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CHARLES H.SERGELS.CO. 





















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/ 

CONGKESSMAN SWANSON 



'' A 

AUTHOR OF “driven FROM SEA TO SEA,’’ ETC 




CHICAGO 

CHARLES H. SERGEL & COMPANY 





Copyright, 1891, By C. C. Post 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



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CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I. 

Introducing Horace Swanson, Attorney-at-law, of Smithville; 
also “Doctor,” who seeks to ascertain whether his friend will 
accept a nomination to Congress from the labor reformers. 7 

CHAPTER H. 

In which the reader receives an intimation of the danger to the 
ordinary citizen involved in the accidental witnessing of a dog 
fight. 18 


CHAPTER HI. 

Introducing two of the labor organizations who come to solicit 
Mr. Swanson to become their candidate for Congress. . . 26 

CHAPTER IV. 

Mr. Swanson suddenly becomes conscious of the existence of the 
social wash-out. He searches for material for a bridge over 
which he may pass to a seat in Congress. Mr. Peters comes to 
his assistance with a suggestion 37 

CHAPTER V. 

How the proposed action of the laboringmen became noised 
abroad, and how the different elements in society viewed it. 

Mr. Peters has an interview with Mr. Hardiman, who is a large 
manufacturer, and forgets his intention of forming the ac- 
quaintance of the young lady who is Mr. Hardiman’s secretary. 46 

CHAPTER VI. 

Mr. Swanson calls upon a certain young lady, at which Mr. Peters 
feels that he has cause for grievance. Mr. Swanson asks for 
information and is referred to another gentleman who has 
already been introduced to the reader 59 

CHAPTER VH. 

Mr. Swanson obtains the information asked for, at which he 
evinces some surprise. Afterward he is given a bouquet for his 
button hole and permission to escort the certain young lady to 
church, 74 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


CHAPTER VIII. 

In which the “fine Italian. hand” of the skilled politician is seen 
manipulating the wires. Mr. Swanson is permitted to remain 
upon the respectable side of the social wash-out. He is nomi- 
nated for Congress by the party of morality, and makes a 
speech. Peters leads a procession. 86 

CHAPTER IX. 

Suggests some reasons why some things might have been different. 94 

CHAPTER X. 

K 

The ball opens, and the opposition candidate makes it warm for 
our friend Swanson. Some little games that were worked in 
the back townships. Mr. Hardiman puts in a claim on behalf 
of the //oe and Subsoiler\ and Mr. Swanson starts on a hasty 
trip to Washington. 102 


CHAPTER XI. 

Mr, Hardiman having forgotten to close the door of his private 
office. Miss Jennie Mason overhears things not intended for 
her ears — and imparts them to others. Mr. Nixon starts out to 
find Mr. Swanson and inform him of what is up. . • 115 

CHAPTER XII. 

Mr. Swanson, the man of honor, calls Swanson, the Attorney-at- 
law, to his defense. He proceeds to Washington where he 
makes some very pleasant acquaintances, and is furnished 
some information regarding the Washington life of his 
opponent which he thinks he can use to advantage in certain 
circles at home. He returns in good spirits and re-enters 
the canvass 126 


CHAPTER XIII. 

The election. The Chronicle and the Bugle disagree regarding 
the returns. Swanson’s election finally conceded. He is 
called on for a speech. He responds to the call and makes a 
speech. After which the author of this narrative forgets him- 
self and moralizes a little. . . . , . . -135 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Doctor calls to congratulate his noble friend on his election. Mr. 
Peters also calls and demands that his services in holding the 
labor vote solid for Swanson be suitably rewarded — which re- 
minds that gentleman that he has promised himself to even 
things up a little with Mr. Hardiman. ..... 145 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


CHAPTER XV. 

Swanson “evens up” with Mr. Hardiman a little, which appears 
much to the advantage of Mr. Mason and his pretty 
daughter, Jennie. Mr. Hardiman “charges it up” to Mr. 
Swanson, who decides that he will call on Miss Mason at an 
early day. 156 


CHAPTER XVI. 

In which Mr, Swanson wonders if he ever shall marry, and 
whom. Also contains a truthful account of the manner in 
which the transfer of the mortgages on Mason’s home was 
offered and received. And what secret purpose Mr. Hardi- 
man had back of it. ........ 167 


CHAPTER XVII. 

The panic and some of its fruits. ...... 177 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Mr. Swanson in Congress. The Bugle and Chronicle are agreed 
regarding certain matters of local interest. Mr. Hardiman 
fails to accomplish his purpose. He also fails in business. He 
takes revenge upon Jennie Mason and her crippled father. . 186 

CHAPTER XIX. 

“It is our only hope,” said Nixon, “Agitate and Educate.” Mr. 
Mason is suggested as the laboringmen’s candidate for Con- 
gress. Which suggestion slightly worries his daughter Jennie, 
who thinks of Mr. Swanson. The rival papers of Smithville 
make another announcement. . ■ 195 

CHAPTER XX. 

Doctor visits Congressman Swanson at Washington and imparts 
some disquieting information which causes that gentleman to 
pass* a restless night; and later to confer with some of his 
brother Congressmen, ........ 206 


CHAPTER XXI. 

Congress adjourns and the members go home to mend their po- 
litical fences. Why Mr. Swanson does not call upon Jennie 
Mason. Is Jennie in love with Mr. Nixon? ... - 220 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The canvass. Swanson again upon the stump, and again the victor 
in his race for Congress. Peters also retains his position, and 
his fees, but changes his bosses. What has become of Doctor? 229 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


CHAPTER XXIIT. 

Introduces “The Silent Member” to the reader. Miss Jennie 
Mason’s explanation of the uses of money. Agitate, educate, 
and organize. .......... 240 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

The new secret society is formally organized, and the silent 
member prophesies increase of membership. The campaign 
of education and organization. . . . . . -251 

CHAPTER XXV. 

The tramp nuisance. Found dead under a haystack. The tramp 
nuisance. A new method of dealing with tramps that will 
likely have the effect of inducing them to avoid our city and 
community in the future. ....... 264 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Making up the issues. A big day in the House of Representa- 
tives. One grave with a head-stone. And one without. 278 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

The silent member makes the longest speech of his life. And 
proposes to initiate the new member at Nixon’s. The initia- 
tion. What Miller’s wife said about Jo’s attempt at dressing 
the baby: Jo starts out to tell a story but is interrupted. . 288 

CHAPTER XXVUI. 

Jo Miller tells of the entertainment which he and Nixon gave 
down in the Quaker settlement. ...... 302 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Uncle Billy Bowlegs’ soliloquy. Uncle Billy and the mortgage 
note-system. The mortgage note-system and the land owner. 

The South immediately after the war. . . . . . 31O 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Uncle Billy soliloquizes about the Farmers’ Alliance. The plan- 
ters and the Jute Bagging Trust. The Alliance and its mission 
in the South. .......... 326 


CHAPTER XXXI. 

Some changed conditions. And some conditions that may be 
changed later. ......... 337 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

In which Mr. Nixon replies to Congressman Swanson’s letter 
asking his opinion of the Sub Treasury Bill. , . . . 348 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


CHAPTER I. 

Introducing Horace Swanson, Attorney-at-law, of Smithville; also 
"Doctor,'" who seeks to ascertain whether his friend will accept a 
nomination to congress from the labor reformers, 

“Doctor, I wish you would step over to the post- 
office and ejet my mail for me ; I am expecting Mr. 
Barnes in, every moment, and promised to have this 
complaint written out for him to sign by four o’clock, 
and it is that time now, and I haven’t it half finished. ’’ 

The speaker was a man in the early prime of life ; 
rather under than over thirty years of age ; well formed, 
of dark complexion, black hair and mustache, eyes dark 
but with an expression of kindness and good-fellowship 
in them which gave one the impression of a man of 
ready sympathies and frank, open character. 

As his words indicated, he was an attorney-at-law, 
having a practice just sufficient to enable him to live a 
comfortable bachelor life, which in a town such as 
Smithville meant money enough to pay his board 
promptly, dress with some regard to the fashion and 
contribute an occasional dollar or two to the church or 
to any charitable object that appealed to his sympathy. 
He owns the small two-room building fronting on 
the main street, though a little out of the centre 
of the county-seat town in which he lives and practices. 


8 


Congressman swaNsoN 


The front room is his office ; back of it is the one in 
which he sleeps ; his meals he takes at one or the other 
of the two hotels which are open for the accommo- 
dation of the traveling public, and to such single 
men among the residents of the place as have no 
homes of their own. 

Having his sleeping apartment back of his office, 
and boarding by the week, makes it easy to change 
the place’ of getting his meals whenever he feels so 
inclined ; and as he is just a trifle fastidious about his 
food, being quite inclined to consider a good dinner 
one of the legitimate pleasures of every-day life, and 
as in Smithville, as in other towns with which the 
reader may possibly be acquainted, the hotels are noted 
for the quantity and sameness of the provender and 
style of cooking set before their guests rather than for 
the variety of either, our young attorney was in the 
habit of shifting his patronage from one hotel to the 
other and then to this or that boarding-house only to 
come back to his first hotel again, to again start on 
the rounds in search of that variety in cooks and cook- 
ing which we will all admit is at least equal to a pickle 
as an appetiser. 

Not that our friend was a glutton or a gormandizer; • 
he was far from it. He did not approach either, in 
his nature or in his habits. He was simply only just 
a little bit of an epicure. 

There was nothing the matter with his appetite. 
Few men engaged in what might be called sedentary 
pursuits had a better appetite than he ; and he always 
enjoyed his breakfast of fried ham and eggs and mashed 
potatoes with coffee and bread served up regularly 
from year’s end to year’s end at the Eagle Hotel, just 
so long as he stayed there. The same can be said of 


CONGRESSMAN SWaNSON 


9 


the roast beef and boiled potatoes and cabbage which 
as regularly came on for dinner; he enjoyed them just 
so long as he remained there and ate them. When 
they began to cloy his appetite he exchanged them, 
for a time, for the fried beefsteak and boiled eggs and 
rice which always awaited those who sat at breakfast 
in the Smithville House in the next square ; awaited 
them with the same never-failing certainty with which, 
at this hostelry, they were served at dinner with boiled 
mutton, cold beef tongue and salad of onions chopped 
fine and mixed with potatoes. 

Our friend always enjoyed the bill of fare at the 
Smithville House just as he did that at the Eagle 
Hotel, and just as he changed the Eagle Hotel with its 
ham and fried eggs, its roast beef and boiled cabbage, 
for the Smithville House with beefsteak and boiled 
eggs, with roast mutton and cold tongue, just so he 
changed the Smithville House and these latter viands 
for Mrs. Pepsin’s boarding-house breakfast of oatmeal 
and milk toast, and her dinners of stewed chicken and 
brown bread with asparagus cooked in milk and baked 
apples in side dishes. 

And just as he enjoyed the former bills of fare in 
their turn, so in its turn he enjoyed that provided by 
the widow Pepsin, because each was a change. And 
as he never complained, but, on the contrary, always 
praised the cooking and proved his liking for it by 
eating heartily, he was a general favorite with landlord 
and landlady ; and at his coming was always given a 
welcome that had in it something a trifle more cordial 
than would naturally be inspired by the knowledge 
that his board bill would certainly be paid at the end of 
the week. 

He was, in fact, quite a general favorite. Without 


I6 


conCr£ssman swan-son 


being egotistical, be yet had sufficient confidence iil 
himself to feel at ease under most circumstances and 
in any society he entered. Without being excessively 
ambitious for honors or place he yet asserted himself 
sufficiently to establish and maintain an individuality 
which gave him local prominence and influence among 
his townspeople ; and this, sustained and increased by 
the prompt response which by nature he was inclined 
to. give to appeals to his sympathies, caused him to be 
looked upon by the people both of town and country as 
a young man with a possible future before him. 

He was not regarded as a very hard worker in the 
profession, yet was never accused of neglecting the in- 
terests of a client entrusted to his care. He did not 
burn midnight oil in any considerable quantities, yet 
was ready with his briefs on court day, and, arguing his 
cases before judge or jury, was usually found to be in 
possession of all attainable evidence relative to the 
case under trial. 

He had never engaged very actively in politics ; 
nature had not endowed him with those qualities of 
mind or heart which go to the making of a rank 
partisan. True, he voted his party ticket straight in 
state and national elections, but he had never engaged 
in what those who manipulate the wires and share the 
boodle are pleased to call “practical politics;” and 
in the few public speeches he had made in the previous 
election in behalf of his party candidate, and by re- 
marks made in conversation at the hotel and other 
places he had shown a trifle more sympathy with the 
reform movements of the day than had the leaders of 
his party generally. 

And particularly of late, during the few months 
previous to the opening of our story, had he dropped 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON tt 

Several remarks in a semi-public way which had 
provoked adverse criticism if not downright censure 
from the more strict party leaders, and had also — un- 
thought of by him — given birth to certain ideas and 
schemes in the brains of a few reformers in the com- 
munity of which, although they were eventually to 
affect him most directly, he had as yet no knowledge 
or conception. 

One of the most immediate results of these unpre- 
meditated expressions of sympathy with the labor 
reformers had been to draw to himself — rather in the 
shape of an admirer and servant than an equal — the 
person of whom he had made the simple request to 
bring his mail at the opening of this story, and whom 
he addressed by the title of Doctor. 

Whether or not he knew the real name of his humble 
friend I have no means of ascertaining. The writer of 
this never knew it, or if so, has forgotten it. Neither 
do I know where he was born or what his age may have 
been, except that his appearance indicated a man in 
middle life or approaching it. 

In stature he was slightly below the average height, 
light complexion, tanned to brown by exposure to the 
sun and wind, light hair inclined to curl at the ends, 
and eyes of the softest blue ; eyes that a young mother 
might go into raptures over in her first babe, but which 
in a grown man indicated unfitness for the vicissitudes 
of life, and in this case helped to give an expression 
to the face that told all too plainly how, in a struggle 
for the survival of the fittest, where brute strength and 
animal cunning constitute the elements of success, 
being both the attacking and defensive forces, he stood 
no chance whatever of being among the victors. 
Indeed, one could not help seeing at a glance that he 


ti 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


had not even entered the strife, but had stood aside and 
apart from it ; stood unresisting and without arms of 
any kind in his hands where — in all probability — he 
had been thrust in the early hours of his existence by 
his more insistent fellow men who struggled for recog- 
nition and place. 

In body, he was little better fitted for a contest 
with his fellows than in his mental qualities. Though 
well proportioned and graceful withal, his form 
was slight and disclosed a lack of that tension which 
is only imparted by a strong personal will, born of 
confidence in self, and consciousness of a fixed purpose 
in life. 

His title of Doctor, commonly abbreviated to "Doc.” 
had attached to him from the fact that he exhibited 
considerable knowledge of medical terms . and of the 
structure and uses of the different organs of the human 
body; and from the farther fact that he was in the 
habit of vending a decoction of herbs of his own prep- 
aration which he claimed to have discovered to be of 
great value in the cure of malarial diseases, common to 
that section. This decoction — which at least was not 
harmful in its effects, and may possibly have been a 
very good remedy for ordinary cases of fevers and 
agues — he put up in such second-hand bottles as he 
could procure, and sold about the country to whoever 
had the requisite amount of confidence, and a quarter 
of a dollar to invest. 

In what manner or where he had obtained his knowl- 
edge of medical terms no one appeared to know or 
care. Possibly he had had advantages when a youth 
which his extreme diffidence and lack of self-assertion 
had made it in his manhood impossible to profit by. 
More probably he had picked up this knowledge sur- 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


13 


reptitiously from the library of some physician in whose 
office or stable he had had employment. He never 
spoke of his earlier life and though he claimed to be 
the discoverer of the compound which he vended, and 
which he unquestionably believed to possess great 
curative powers, he yet did not attempt to have it 
patented, thus securing to himself the exclusive right 
of selling ; but, on the contrary, unhesitatingly pro- 
claimed the names and properties of the herbs entering 
into it to anyone who asked about it ; while the price 
at which he sold it was but barely sufficient to pay for 
his work in searching for and preparing the ingredients 
at wage-labor prices. Evidently a desire to relieve 
the sick rather than to make money was the prime 
motive power that moved him in the matter; though 
not many saw, nor perhaps cared to see, the motive. 

With few exceptions the people saw in him a 
simple fellow who peddled a worthless nostrum about 
the country because he was too lazy to work for a 
living, or because no one would trust him with any 
work to do ; which latter supposition may have been 
an aid to him in selling his medicine. For if it was 
true that few would employ him, he must — if he would 
continue to exist — obtain that upon which to live in 
some other way than by hiring himself out as a laborer ; 
and having faith in his remedy he naturally fell back 
upon it as a means of doing good to his fellows and 
at the same time obtaining food to satisfy the cravings 
of his hunger. 

Commonly, he was regarded as a fit butt for any 
jokes by which the “smart Alecks" of the community 
sought to exhibit the superiority of their wits ; and he 
had been guyed unmercifully at different times by the 
boys of the little city. But here and there he had met 


14 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


a finer nature or a more loving one, and there were a 
few houses in the country and at least one place in 
the town where he felt certain of kindly and consid- 
erate treatment. And this latter place was the office 
of our legal friend to whom we have already introduced 
the reader. 

On several previous occasions for a single night, and 
now for three successive nights. Doctor had slept upon 
the sofa in the attorney's office, being pressed to do so 
by that gentleman, who saw by his manner rather than 
by any words he uttered that something weighed upon 
his mind and caused him to be more than usually ill at 
ease. 

Perhaps the attorney imagined that lack of success 
in selling his medical decoctions in the country had 
driven him into town ; and that here the boys had re- 
newed their oft repeated game of guying until they had 
driven their victim into a condition of overwrought 
nervousness, and so had felt prompted to offer his own 
respectful consideration as a palliative. 

He was fully capable of doing an act of this kind. As 
I have said before, he was of a sympathetic nature and 
responded quickly to appeals to his feelings ; and when 
“Doctor” three days before had entered his office with 
a manner even more deprecatory than usual, and, 
even though kindly received and some effort made to 
entertain him, had appeared to grow less rather than 
more at his ease, his entertainer had still farther 
shown his goodness of heart.* Excusing himself on 
plea of an engagement at a brother attorney’s office, 
he had insisted on Doctor remaining in possession of 
the place during his absence, and sleeping upon his sofa 
at night — a courtesy repeated again and again on the 
Jollowing days, and accepted each time with evidently 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


15 


grateful feelings, but a very confused expression of them. 

Had our friend understood Doctor^s purpose in calling 
upon him at this time, or the reason which had in- 
duced him to accept his hospitality,he would possibly 
have entertained quite different feelings toward him. 

Not that he could have lost sympathy for him, he was 
too generous by nature for that ; but had he known 
what Doctor knew — that his own name was being can- 
vassed among the reform organizations of the district 
as a possible candidate upon their ticket for congress at 
the coming election, and that Doctor — who', was an 
earnest if not an influential believer in reform — had 
come for the purpose of seeking to satisfy himself 
whether or not he would accept the trust if con- 
ferred upon him — had he known this, he might 
have felt annoyed at what most men would have re- 
garded as the impudence of this fellow, this half- 
witted vender of nostrums, in thus daring, in a sense, 
to sit in judgment on him ; but it is much more likely 
that his easily sympathetic and unantagonistic nature 
would have led him to take a humorous view of the 
situation, and that while he would not have pressed 
Doctor to prolong his stay, he would secretly have 
considered his coming for such a purpose as an ex- 
ceedingly good joke. 

As it was, he treated him with a kind of respectful 
deference, such as he felt would most readily heal the 
wounds made by the rudeness of others upon his too 
sensitive nature ; and it was with a feeling that Doctor 
appreciated his courtesy and would be grateful for 
opportunity to do him even the smallest favor in return, 
quite as much as from any real need of his services, 
that he made the request of him with which we open 
this .sto^. 


i6 CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 

We would not have the reader suppose that Doctor 
had passed the entire time during these three days in 
Swanson’s office. He had, in fact, passed but a fraction 
of either day there, and he had steadily refused every 
invitation of the attorney to take a meal with him at 
the Eagle Hotel, where he was then boarding, although 
thinking he might really be in need of one, Swanson 
had been somewhat insistent on his doing so. To all 
such invitations Doctor offered the excuse of having 
already eaten, and as he invariably absented himself 
for some hours before meal times, even arising and 
leaving the office in the morning long before his enter- 
tainer thought of doing so, there was no gainsaying 
his assertion ; and finally Swanson ceased to urge him, 
satisfied with the belief that he obtained luncheon at 
the bakery, and putting down his refusal to go to the 
hotel to that confirmed and apparently insurmountable 
diffidence which made it painful for him to appear 
among people. 

At the moment of the opening of our story. Doctor 
was sitting in one of Swanson’s office-chairs reading, 
or at least pretending to read, the daily paper of 
yesterday. As he sat, his body was bent slightly forward 
and drawn in, his legs drawn back and feet hidden as 
much as possible beneath his chair, while the paper 
was held in a position to screen his face from observa- 
tion both by the other occupant of the room and by 
anyone who might chance to enter at the open door; 
his whole position declaring most plainly his utter 
absence of confidence in himself. 

And yet a close observer might have detected 
evidences of intent and alert watchfulness, if not in 
the attitude, then in the promptness with which the 
paper was laid aside and the sitter rose to his feet as 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


17 


the first words of a request to go for his letters fell 
from the lips of his companion. 

His face brightened and lifted as the request was 
understood and instantly he turned to the door. But 
here he hesitated, lifted one foot as if to begin the 
descent of the three steps which led to the ground and 
the street, withdrew it again, and turning half about 
yet without looking at his companion, he said, with a 
deprecating air : 

“The boys are all down that way. ’’ 

Swanson answered kindly and encouragingly. 

“Oh, well,” he said, “we mustn’t mind the boys’ 
guying too much. They don’t really mean any harm. 
They are so full of animal spirits they cannot behave 
themselves like human beings, and they do not realize 
how we older folks see things. They will be older 
and have more sense some day, and I wouldn’t pay any 
attention to their coltishness if I were you. ” 

Again Doctor’s countenance brightened and lifted, 
and again he turned to the door and passed down the 
steps into the street. 

Ten minutes later he re-entered the office with an 
air which, while it showed plainly the pleasure it had 
given him to do his friend the small favor asked, 
could not conceal the relief he felt at having escaped 
being tormented by the boys. 

“Here is your mail,” he said. “The postmaster 
said both trains were in ; I asked him. ” And then he 
added : “The boys never saw me at all ; I went down 
on the other side of the street and crossed over below 
them, and they never once noticed me, " 


9 


CHAPTER II. 


In which the reader receives an intimation of the danger to the ordinary 
citizen involved in the accidental witnessing of a dog fight. 

Although Doctor had spent portions of three days in 
the presence of the man he had come to interview, he 
had as yet found no words in which to approach the 
purpose of his visit. His diffidence, the bane of his 
existence, and the insurmountable obstacle to his 
success in any direction, had prevented. 

Several times the coversation had appeared to take 
a turn favorable to his wishes, biit always it had drifted 
off again in some other direction, because he could not 
summon sufficient courage to interpose a remark of 
the proper character at the opportune moment. 

In fact, the conversation had been carried on with 
very little assistance from him. Swanson had talked 
and he had listened. He was at least a good listener, 
and Swanson was undoubtedly a good talker to such 
a listener. He had good command of language and 
his sympathies being aroused by the seeming barren- 
ness of Doctor’s life, in whom he saw a timid child’s 
nature crushed beneath the burden of a man’s respon- 
sibility, without companions, and quite incapable of 
making them among the selfish, surging world of men 
about him, Swanson found a mild pleasure in talking 
to him in a way that, for the time being, lifted him 
into a partially upright mental and spiritual man. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


19 

And although the response from Doctor to his effort 
in this direction was meagre, so far as the number of 
words went, yet the legally trained mind of the attorney 
was more than once surprised by the clearness and 
terseness with which Doctor gave expression to views 
on the different questions touched upon ; and although 
it did not sink so deeply into his consciousness as to 
make him really aware of the fact, he had yet learned 
in these three days to regard Doctor rather less in the 
light of a half-witted fellow who was to be kindly 
treated out of pity, and more as an unfortunately con- 
stituted genius who was to be respected. 

On Doctor’s part there was a feeling akin to adora- 
tion for the man who treated him with such thoughtful 
consideration. 

His first introduction to him had occurred in a 
justice’s court, into which Docor had been brought — a 
very unwilling witness — by one of the parties to the 
suit ; a trifling affair growing out of a dog fight, the 
beginning of which he had been so unfortunate as to 
witness. 

Quite abashed and cast down in the presence of the 
court and the opposing lawyers, one of whom — filled 
with the idea of the importance of his profession, and 
encouraged by the knowledge that the commonly held 
opinions of courts are that witnesses have no rights 
and no feelings that attorneys are bound to respect — 
had browbeaten and bedeviled him until, had not 
Swanson, who was also in the case, taken the witness 
out of his hands and by kind and judicious questions 
enabled him to tell what he knew of it, it is probable 
he would have been so confused as to be unable to 
speak at all ; in which case, the judge would doubtless 


20 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


have protected the dignity of the court by fining him 
for contempt. 

Under Swanson’s kindly leading, however, Doctor 
was enabled to tell his story in a way to do justice to 
hoth parties in the suit, and to cause those to part 
friends who had comejnto court as enemies. 

Doctor got little credit for his influence in shaping 
the result of the trial. He would have been surprised 
and overwhelmed with confusion if any one had so 
much as expressed thanks for what he had done ; 
but his heart swelled with gratitude toward Swanson, 
and he ever afterward looked up to him as a friend to 
himself and to humanity ; one to be honored above 
all other men whom he had ever met. 

"Blessed is the peacemaker ; he shall inherit the 
kingdom of God," was the sentiment impressed upon 
his heart as he went, an unwilling witness because 
of his great diffidence, into court. And when he 
found that, through his evidence brought out by 
Swanson’s kindly questioning, peace had flowed in and 
taken the place of strife between two of his fellow 
men, he felt a great glow of happiness ; and to the 
attorney who had so successfully drawn out what he 
knew on the subject, he gave all the glory and the 
honor, and immediately enshrined him in his heart as 
the greatest and noblest of men. 

It had been words which Swanson had uttered in 
a public address too, which had started Doctor to 
thinking on labor reform questions. He had never 
thought about such things before. If the condition of 
the people among whom he had passed to and fro 
offering his nostrum for sale had ever appealed to his 
sympathy — and it did — he had never thought of it as 
resulting from causes that might be removed by the 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


21 


power vested in congress and the courts, but rather 
as an unfortunate condition of things of which he felt 
himself to be a part, and which — like his own inability 
to contend with his fellows — was insurmountable as a 
whole, and only to be relieved in some faint degree by 
charity, as when he gave a bottle of his medicine to a 
sick child whose father — a day laborer, out of employ- 
ment — was without the means of paying for it. 

But when he heard from the lips of Swanson, whom 
he regarded as at once the best and wisest of men, that 
the evil condition which surrounded the people was 
in a measure at least due to unjust laws, and hence • 
could be remedied by proper legislation, his imagina- 
tion at once took wings, and in fancy he saw the 
burdens lifted from off the shoulders of the race, and 
peace and prosperity and gladness where now he knew 
was only strife and galling poverty and wretchedness. 

Swanson had given but a dim idea of what particular 
legislation had brought about the evil condition of 
things, or of what was needed to remove it. 

In point of fact, Swanson had not a very clear per- 
ception of the matter himself; but his sympathies had 
been aroused, and he had caught a faint glimmering 
of truth through the haze with which the — so called — 
statesmen and economists had surrounded the question 
of the relation of labor and capital, and had given 
expression to the ideas which Doctor had heard, and 
upon which he had builded such beautiful air castles. 

Since that first time. Doctor had spent days and 
weeks, nay a whole year, in trying to solve the question 
thus raised — of the way out of these evil conditions. 
He had attended the open meetings of the laboring 
men in town, creeping in unobserved and sheltering 
himself in some shadowed corner, where he had sat and 


22 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


listened to the speeches, and had gone away filled 
with bright hopes and new ideas, which latter he had 
carefully and laboriously conned over and over, weigh- 
ing every argument for and against in the light of 
facts as they came under his own observation, or as 
he learned them to exist from the reading of such 
papers and books as chanced to be within his reach, 
until he had become possessed of a fund of knowledge 
on labor subjects that would have been a matter of 
envy to his fellows if possessed by most of the orators 
of the day upon either side of the contested question. 

As for Swanson, he had thought very little. He 
had been engaged for the most part with his legal 
business and with his few society interests ; and as he 
had never aspired to political honors, had given little 
attention to the political issues so rapidly coming to 
the front, and really knew little more of them than 
that they existed, were being discussed and that his 
sympathies were with the poor who had hard work to 
make both ends of the year meet, rather than with the 
rich who through trusts and combinations were absorb- 
ing the products of the toil of the masses. 

He had, however, given expression to this feeling 
in a half-public way on several occasions ; and it was 
these expressions that had caused the leaders of his 
party to look upon him with a slightly suspicious eye, 
and on the other hand, induced the laborers to regard 
him as a friend who from his position and abilities 
might assist them greatly if he could be induced to 
accept the championship of their cause. 

To this condition and feeling they had been helped 
more than they were aware of by the quiet but persis- 
tent efforts of Doctor. Swanson’s praises were ever 
upon his lips ; or at least, his lips seldom opened in 


COKGRESSMAN SWANSON 


23 


communication with the friends of reform — and he 
talked now of little else — except to give expression to 
this new found faith in a better day coming ; and 
always he managed — though mostly without being 
aware of it — to convey the impression that he gave 
Swansongs views and feelings rather than his own. 

His faith in Swanson was so great and his loyalty 
to him so perfect, while his confidence in himself was 
so nearly nothing, that he endowed Swanson with all the 
knowledge and enthusiasm which he himself possessed ; 
and these had been so great with relation to labor 
questions that the workingmen and farmers with whom 
he came in contact had gradually come to listen to 
him and to treat with a respectful attention assertions 
and ideas, believing them to originate with Swanson, 
which they would not have regarded with respect had 
they supposed them to originate with Doctor. 

And so it came about that when nominations for 
congress began to be talked of, the eyes of the labor 
reformers turned with one accord toward Swanson ; 
and the idea of making him the nominee took firm 
hold on them. 

When it suddenly broke on Doctor’s mind that the 
laborers would ask Swanson to be their standard 
bearer, a quick and almost paralyzing fear took 
momentary possession of him. Like a lightning 
flash the thought had come to him that possibly 
Swanson was not so fully in sympathy with the laborers 
as he had believed him to be ; and his sensitive soul 
was shocked with the suggestion — “What if Swanson 
should refuse to become their candidate^’’ 

For an instant he saw with some degree of clearness 
his own feelings and his own position and compared 
them with what he really knew of Swanson with rela- 


24 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


tion to the question at issue ; and he felt that he had 
perhaps misrepresented him, and so done a grievous 
wrong to the man he loved above all human beings, 
and to the laborers whose cause was dearer to him 
than his own life. 

Then came a revulsion of feeling and he staggered 
beneath the thought that he had wronged the noblest 
of men by the suspicion that he could possibly fail 
to understand better than he himself could the rights 
and wrongs of the laborers, or that understanding, he 
should be unwilling to take his place at the front and 
bear the brunt of a contest, however hot it might be, 
in defense of their cause. Yet, out of it all, out of this 
tempestuous sea of feeling, he came with the compul- 
sion upon him to go to Mr. Swanson and learn from 
his own lips, and directly, that he would indeed accept 
the nomination and lead the laboring men and women 
of the country on to peaceful and glorious victory. 

And so he had come, not as a spy, not as one who 
distrusted the loyalty of his friend, but as one who 
feared, if he feared at all, that that friend^s modesty 
and preference for others over himself might tempt 
him to refuse the position of leadership which this 
loving and devoted heart felt no other could possibly 
fill so perfectly. 

And he had been near him for three whole days and 
nights and yet had not put the question he had come 
to ask. 

But now he would delay no longer. 

The feeling that he had done Swanson even the 
small favor of going for his mail seemed to him to 
bring them nearer together. Not that he counted what 
he had done as anything ; he would have counted it 
very little to have lost a limb in the service of the 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


25 


man whom he loved so much, whom he looked to as 
the Moses who was to lead the children of Israel out 
of bondage ; but somehow he felt that in doing so 
trifling a thing he had proven his allegiance and so 
could the better speak that which he had come to 
speak ; and now he would have spoken but even as he 
raised his eyes to catch the expression of his noble 
friend’s countenance that he might judge of the impres- 
sion his first words should make he saw coming- down 
the street two of the recognized leaders of the organized 
laboring men of the district, and he knew that another 
would ask that which he was about to ask ; and he 
turned about and seated himself in the far corner of the 
room, took up the paper he had laid down when he 
started to go for Swanson’s letters, shaded his face 
with it and waited. 


CHAPTER III. 

Introducing two of the representatives of the labor organizations who 
come to solicit Mr. Swanson to become their candidate for congress. 

“Come in, gentlemen, come in, Mr — r — Nixon !’’ called 
Swanson, as the two men whom Doctor had seen 
coming up the street appeared at the door and 
hesitated an instant before entering. 

Swanson did not rise from his chair, as he might 
have done had his callers worn dress suits and silk 
hats, instead of plain business suits of an inexpensive 
quality and make. Nevertheless, his manner was 
entirely respectful, and there was even a note of 
cordiality in the tones of his voice as he bid them 
enter. In fact, there nearly always was an undertone 
of cordiality in Mr. Swanson’s voice, no matter whom 
he addressed or where. He was a good fellow himself. 
He liked people as a general thing, and his voice and 
manner expressed it without effort on his part; he 
was naturally and unaffectedly cordial with men. 

He stumbled a little over Mr. Nixon’s name when 
inviting him in. He remembered the man well, though 
he had little actual knowledge of him ; had not seen 
him for months, and could not on the instant of his 
approach to the office door recall the name to memory ; 
yet not wishing to appear to have forgotten him, he 
made the effort and succeeded in speaking it, though 
a trifle haltingly. 


26 


CONGIIESSMAN SWANSON 


27 


He did not — as I have remarked — rise to his feet as 
the men entered, but he laid aside the complaint which 
he had just completed for his client Barnes, wheeled his 
chair about so as to face the door and those who were 
entering, and by his general manner showed that his 
callers were welcome, and that he was ready to hear 
what might be the object of their visit whenever they 
chose to make it known. 

Of the two men who now entered the one addressed 
as Nixon advanced with a firm step, pushing his hat 
back froin his forehead as he did so, but without 
removing it, and offered Swanson his hand with a genial 
friendliness that evidently rather surprised that gentle- 
man. He, however, grasped it promptly and rose to 
his feet still holding it. In fact, he could hardly have 
dropped it if he had desired ; for Nixon held it in a 
firm grasp, shaking it heartily, and only released it 
when Swanson was fully and squarely upon his feet ; 
then he did so, saying at the same time : 

“I don’t suppose you know much about me, Mr. 
Swanson, but I know you, and I once boarded for a 
week at Mrs. Pepsin’s when you were there. I am 
president of the United Labor Organizations of the 
district; and this is Mr. Peters, who is secretary.” 

He paused here to give the men thus introduced an 
opportunity to shake hands; after which he con- 
tinued, still standing where he was, though Swanson 
had politely indicated that they should be seated : 

"We have come, Mr. Swanson, to ask you if you 
will accept of a nomination to congress from the 
labor men. We have not held our convention yet, 
but we are going to do so soon, and if you will accept 
the nomination the boys will all go for you in the con- 
vention and do what they can to elect you afterward. 


28 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


We know you are not exactly a laboring man yourself, 
but we have heard how you are in sympathy with us 
and think as we do about things, and we want you to 
make the fight for us; and we think maybe, as you 
are so well known and liked, that you can be elected ; 
and if you are, you can do a great deal of good for the 
people that work hard and live poor.” 

“Yes," interrupted Peters, ‘‘you can do a mighty sight 
of good for us and for yourself, too. We are bound to 
win sooner or later, and when we do, the fellows that 
have stood by us will be the fellows that will run 
things, and them thaPs been against us can sit on the 
back seats and suck their thumbs.” 

While the two men, first Nixon and then Peters 
were speaking, the face of our legal friend underwent 
a variety of changes. At first surprise showed itself ; 
then the faintest indication of a suspicion that he was 
being made game of ; then, as the evident earnestness 
of Nixon compelled him to dismiss this thought as 
quickly as it came, he had a feeling that there was 
something ludicrous in the idea of his being the candi- 
date of the laboring men for congress ; he who had 
never done a stroke of physical work in his life, and 
really knew nothing about the wants of the laboring 
people. Neither was it as a candidate of the laboring 
men exclusively that the matter appeared to him as 
peculiar, but of himself as a candidate at all, and for 
congress. In all his castle building, in all his flights 
of fancy, he had never once pictured himself as a 
member of congress, and now that it was suggested 
to him in what was undoubtedly dead earnest b}" 
others, the one central idea of himself occupying a seat 
in congress crowded out all secondary ones, and the 
smile which for an instant threatened to break over 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


29 


his face was not altogether at the apparent anomaly 
which he presented to himself as the laboring men’s 
candidate for congress, but himself as such candidate 
without relation to anything or anybody else. Follow- 
ing this with equal rapidity came a natural and justi- 
fiable feeling of prideful pleasure at the honor 
done him; and when Nixon, still standing before him, 
had ceased speaking, he instinctively raised his hand 
to grasp that of the speaker, but dropped it again as 
Peters struck in ; and when the latter had finished, 
instead of offering to shake hands with either of the 
men, he waved them to seats with a manner in which 
a trifle of dignity was mingled with an evident effort 
to be courteous. Then he resumed his own seat. 

For an instant after all were seated there was 
silence ; and then Swanson said, a little stammeringly : 

“Really, gentlemen, I hardly know how to answer 
you. Your proposition is entirely unexpected. I have 
never thought of the possibility of such a thing, and 
had not the faintest suspicion that you, that the labor- 
ing men, contemplated asking me to be their candidate. 
In fact, I did not know they had decided to put up a 
candidate, but supposed they would try to get the 
legislation they want by making their demands through 
whoever should be elected by the Democrats or 
Republicans. ’’ 

“That’s what we have decided on, making a nomi- 
nation independent of both parties,” replied Nixon. 
“We have tried ’em both and they have promised and 
promised, but they never do anything. The laboring 
people are growing poorer every year, and times are 
getting harder, and wages lower, and work scarcer, and 
we don’t see how we can stand it much longer ; so 


30 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


we concluded to put up a man of our own and see if 
he can do anything for us.” 

“But can you elect a man if you put him up?” asked 
Swanson. 

“That^s what we are not so sure of as we would like 
to be; but we think — ” began Nixon, when Peters 
interrupted him. 

“Of course we can elect him if we work it right, and 
we will ; the laboring men will all vote for him, and 
they are almost a majority of themselves. And then 
there are your own personal friends ; and beside, a 
good many of your own party will come to you when 
they see that you are being backed by the solid labor 
vote. Oh, you needn’t fear, Mr. Swanson ; you will 
be elected sure if you accept our nomination and 
follow our advice." 

There was something in the tone of Peters’ voice, in 
his manner, in his personality perhaps, which caused 
Swanson to experience a slight feeling of repulsion 
toward him when he spoke. He had felt this before 
when Peters had addressed him, and had instinctively 
dropped the hand he was on the point of offering both 
to Nixon and to him. He had the same feeling now, 
though he did not stop to analyze it, either at this or 
any future time. He had not yet analyzed his own 
desire even, with relation to these men and the propo- 
sition they made, and he did not feel certain as to what 
answer he wished to give. He knew very little about 
the situation politically, and knew that he did not. 
Had he been asked on the day previous how the vote 
of the district would divide in the next election he 
would have made an approximate statement on the 
vote polled for the state ticket the year before, and 
divided the vote between the Democratic and Repub- 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


31 


lican parties without a thought of any of it going to 
the labor men ; but now he saw things differently. 

It is hard for a man to believe his opinions and 
views are esteemed so lightly, that he himself is of so 
little weight that he cannot draw a single vote from 
out the ranks of his political party through his own 
personal popularity and superior wisdom. Yet such is 
the case with scarcely an exception in the history of 
the politics of the country. Men will follow their 
party wherever it leads ; follow it through war to 
poverty and through poverty to serfdom, and will 
refuse to follow a former party leader who breaks a- 
way from it a single foot, no matter how eloquently he 
pleads or how wisely he points the way. 

But of this remarkable characteristic of men, Mr. 
Swanson was ignorant. He had no experience in 
practical politics; he felt a pleasant sense of his 
growing importance in the community and was unable 
at the moment to properly estimate the influence upon 
the canvass which his entrance into it as a candidate of 
the labor organization might have, and he still hesita- 
ted over what reply he should make to its represent- 
atives. 

“When do you hold your convention?” he asked, 
after a moment of silence all around. 

“Two weeks from to-day is the time decided on,” 
replied Nixon, "and I sincerely hope, Mr. Swanson, 
that you will consent to make the face. We will do 
our very best to give you a good vote, and in any 
event it need not cost you much, and your advocacy 
of our cause will help us greatly, as you will be 
listened to where we will not be.” 

“Yes, and I tell you you can be elected,” again 
broke in Peters. “The working men will vote for you 


32 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


solid if we tell them to, and if the thing is managed 
right, enough more votes can be got from one of the 
old parties to elect you easy. You had better accept 
at once, Mr. Swanson, and let us go to work to get 
things in shape for your nomination.” 

A first glance at the two men, the representatives of 
the workingman’s party, who sat side by side fronting 
Mr. Swanson, would disclose no very marked difference 
between them. Both were dressed in dark suits of no 
noticeable pattern, and of such fit as is usually obtained 
in ready-made clothing. Both wore white shirts and 
dark neckties with some little ornament in the shape 
of a pin through them, and both now held black slouch 
hats in their hands, and the shoes of each showed that 
they had received attention from the blacking-brush 
before the wearers of them left their respective homes. 

In a word, both men were dressed in the garb com- 
monly worn by mechanics and the better paid labor- 
ing men on Sundays and whenever they are off duty. 

Both men, too, were of medium height,both light 
complexioned, and both showed in their manner and 
general make-up that they were mechanics of some 
kind and accustomed to labor for their daily bread. 

But here the resemblance ended ; and a closer exam- 
ination disclosed decided differences of character. 
Nixon’s countenance wore an expression at once frank 
and open ; but his mouth and chin indicated strength 
and decision of character, and there was a look in 
his clear gray eyes that hinted of danger to be met in 
attempting to impose upon their possessor. His 
hands were shapely in spite of the evidence upon them 
of his trade as a worker in iron ; his fingers were long 
and somewhat tapering ; the nails were not long, 
neither were they stubbed off even with the flesh, and 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


33 


they were clean ; it was the hand of construction, and 
evidently of one with the high instincts of a gentleman. 

Peters’ hands were short and stubby, and made to 
appear still more so by having the nails pared down as 
close to the flesh as it was possible to cut them with- 
out starting the blood. He was a worker in wood, and 
was employed in one of the large manufactories of 
agricultural implements in town, and in one of the 
cleanest of its departments ; yet his hands looked much 
more grimy than did those of his companion, who 
worked in iron. His chin was quite as prominent as 
it should be, but it lacked the element of character, 
and his nose was too small to correspond with it. 
His eyes were gray, like his companion’s, but they 
had a different expression. 

It was hard to tell just what expression Peter’s eyes 
did have, but it was not one that inspired any par- 
ticular confidence in their possessor. 

'Both men were single, and had obtained their posi- 
tions as leaders in the labor organization by their 
persistent efforts to organize their fellow workers into 
Labor Unions, Protective Societies and the like. 
They had never been intimate, nor closely associated 
in this work until recently, when a kind of Central 
Union composed of delegates from the various labor 
organizations of the district had been formed, by which 
they had been elected respectively president and secre- 
tary, and thus thrown into close if not entirely 
harmonious relations. 

I say, not entirely harmonious relations, because it 
had been evident from the first that Peters coveted 
the position of president of the body, and was in- 
clined to feel himself aggrieved and ill treated that 
it had been given to Nixon instead. He had, however, 
3 


34 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


expressed himself as entirely satisfied with the posi- 
tion of secretary ; and when it was voted that all 
correspondence should pass through his hands, and 
that he should receive a small compensation for the 
labor which must fall upon him, he was probabl}?’ 
better pleased than if his position and that of Mr. 
Nixon had been reversed. 

Evidently the two men were not and never could be 
chums ; and, perhaps unconsciously, they were a bit 
watchful of each other’s words and actions, as if each 
sought to divine clearly the motives which governed 
the other. 

As the two sat now, side by side, awaiting Mr. 
Swanson’s reply to their proposition, the attitude of 
both that of expectancy and hope, there was yet a 
difference in their expression which clearly indicated 
the difference of character between them. 

Nixon had the poise of body and general air of self- 
respect indicative of a man who had taken a position 
advisedly and after deep reflection, and which he knew 
to be wholly right and honorable, and from which no 
temporary defeat could move him. Peters showed he 
was eager rather than strong, and that the source of 
his inspiration was less high than that of his com- 
panion. 

"I think, gentlemen,” at last spoke Mr. Swanson, 
“that I must take a little time to consider your propo- 
sition ; it is certainly a very unexpected one to me, 
and I ought not to act upon it hastily. I might wrong 
you in doing so,” he added after a moment’s pause. 

“How long do 5^ou want to consider it?” asked one 
of the men. 

“Oh, a few days ; a week, say : that will be soon 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


35 


enough, won’t it? I ought to consult some of my 
friends before I decide.” 

“If you cannot determine sooner we must wait, I 
suppose,” replied Nixon, “but we should have liked 
to take back word to the men that you would certainly 
accept. ” 

“Oh, Mr. Swanson will accept,” put in Peters. 
"You will see it is to your interest to do so when you 
think it over. You will have the solid labor vote — 
Nixon and I will see to that, and you will be elected. 
I will see you again in a day or two and we will talk 
it all over.” 

The two labor representatives shook hands in turn 
with the man they had asked to be their candidate, 
and turning, left the office. 

When they were fairly in the street there was a 
slight rustling of paper in the far corner of the room, 
and Doctor emerged from behind the sheet he had 
been pretending to read throughout the interview just 
closed. He laid the paper upon the chair from which 
he had risen and came toward that into which Mr. 
Swanson had just sunk beside his desk, and there was 
a look of mingled admiration and appeal upon his face 
as he said with an air of animation and eagerness not 
common to him : 

“You’ll accept the nomination, won’t you, Mr. 
Swanson? I told the men you were with them and 
could help them more than anybody, and they will be 
discouraged if you refuse.” 

Before Swanson could reply, Mr. Barnes entered 
the office and asked if the complaint that was to be 
the basis of his suit against a neighbor for trespass was 
completed, and ready to sign. 

Being told that it was, he seated himself at the 


36 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


table beside the attorney, signed the document, and 
then entered into conversation with him as his legal 
adviser regarding the points of evidence to be brought 
out when the trial should come off. 

When the two gentlemen arose from their conference, 
they were the only persons in the room. Doctor had 
quietly withdrawn, and Swanson did not see him again 
for several days. 


CHAPTER IV. 

Mr Swanson suddenly becomes conscious of the existence of the social 
washout. He searches for material for a bridge over which he may 
pass to a seat in congress, Mr, Peters comes to his assistance with a 
suggestion. 

When our legal friend found himself alone after 
the departure of Nixon and Peters, he sat for some 
moments silently thinking, and then rose and began 
pacing the floor of his office. After a few turns back 
and forth, he passed into his bed chamber in the rear 
of the office, closed the door between the two rooms 
and threw himself across the bed with his feet resting 
on a chair. 

He remained in this position but a minute, however, 
when he arose and began to walk the floor, from the 
bed to the door, and back again to the bed, then to 
the door again, 'whirling upon his heel at either limit 
to his farther progress with a nervous rapidity which 
told plainly he was in a state of unusual excitement, 
and quite unable to determine what to expect of the 
future, or what the effect of the proposition to which 
he had just listened would have upon his life in the 
years that were to come. 

As the reader is already aware, he had never been 
especially ambitious; had never sought for political 
preferment; had never thought of himself as a man 
possessed of tne qualities of leadership and was con- 
37 


38 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


tent, and would forever have remained content, with 
his position of recognized equality with the most 
popular of his brothers at the bar where he practiced — 
a position to be won and held by a person of good 
natural abilities without excessive labor and study — 
and with the social position his genial disposition 
added to his standing in the legal profession gave 
him without any additional effort. 

But here now was a suggestion and an indication, 
nay, an assurance, as it seemed to him, that he had 
misjudged his own abilities ; that he had placed too 
low an estimate upon his own talents ; that he pos- 
sessed elements of leadership which, unknown to 
himself, had yet been perceived by others, and had 
incited the rising of a tide which, if taken at the 
flood, might bear him on to — who could tell what 
glorious future? 

Once the bars of his imagination let down there 
rushed in a flock of pleasant fancies all garmented in 
white, and garlanded with roses ; and these gathered 
about him and danced before his eyes, and sang songs 
into his ears, and seemed to lift him up and out of 
himself until he felt changed from the plain Horace 
Swanson whose shingle with "Attorney at Law" was 
tacked over his office door, and whom all his acquain- 
tances felt at liberty to address in a manner more or 
less familiar, into a being with superior presence and 
power — one in whose hands were the destinies of 
many people and at whose disposal lay patronage and 
place almost without limit. 

He had found it not hard to win and hold a position 
of equality at the local bar with the best who practiced 
there ; doubtless it would be equally easy for him to 
take a similar position among members of congress ; 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


39 


nay, was there not good reason to believe that he was 
intellectually the superior of most men holding seats 
in that body? He remembered that nominations for 
congress were eagerly sought, and that few obtained 
them except through much pulling of wires and the 
expenditure of large sums of money ; while here he 
was offered a nomination off-hand and without the least 
seeking on his part; offered it by the people them- 
selves, who surely must have perceived in him some 
qualities of leadership, some latent talent for states- 
manship not possessed by the average congressman, 
since such had to struggle and sweat and maneuver for 
the chance that had come to him unsolicited. 

Thus did fancy lift him on her tinseled wings and 
bear him aloft and show him pictures beautiful as a 
maiden’s dream of love, to drop him, when the flight 
was ended, through the fathomless ether of his own 
imagination, and leave him as stranded and wingless 
and almost as disconsolate as the maiden whose lover 
has deserted her for another. 

“We are not so sure about that as we would like to- 
be.” 

These words of Nixon in reply to his own question 
as to the ability of the laborers to elect their candi- 
date suddenly floated in upon Swanson’s beautiful 
dream and incontinently knocked every particle of 
bright color out of it. 

He saw that he had made a fool of himself ; at least 
that is the way he expressed it to himself at the first 
moment of alighting after his flight into the clouds on 
the wings of fancy ; and for the next few minutes his 
spirits sank to a depth corresponding in some degree 
to their previous flight upward. 

In the latter condition he saw himself the laughing 


40 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


stock of his cronies at the bar, and of the leaders of 
the party with which he had acted in the past, and 
even with the merchants and business men of the town, 
almost all of whom he knew had spoken in condemna- 
tion of the proclaimed objects of the labor organiza- 
tion. So long as he was not identified with these 
organizations in any way, or with their members, he 
had felt no hesitation in expressing his sympathy with 
them. He really felt they had some reason for com- 
plaining. He knew, of course, they were not regarded 
by the elite of society as respectable in the same sense 
as are the members of the professions and the possessors 
of great wealth ; and that some of their demands had 
been denounced as smacking of communism and hence 
dangerous to society ; but he had paid little heed to 
these charges, regarding them rather as missiles hurled 
by-the easily frightened conservatives in church and 
politics — those who fear innovation of ideas because 
ideas disturb the settled condition of things and 
make it unpleasant for all who are content in such 
positions as they find themselves, and to which they 
have so adapted themselves mentally and physically 
that any change causes them great discomfort if not 
actual pain — than as true statements of what the laborers 
really sought for or demanded. 

At the safe distance of his position as an attorney- 
at-law, and a recognized member of the best society 
of the town, he had felt it entirely safe to say a word 
now and then as a generous impulse prompted, in de- 
fence of his less fortunate fellows, the laboring men, 
on the other side of the social washout. 

He had never said this before, never thought it, 
because he had acted wholly upon impulse as his 
sympathies had dictated, and had never considered 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


41 


the matter at all. But now that he was brought 
face to face with a proposition to cross over and array 
himself with those on the other side, to act with them 
in matters of the gravest moment and in a manner 
which would certainly not meet the approval of the 
majority, if indeed of a single one of his friends and 
associates on this side, he perceived very clearly not 
only that the washout was there but that he had a 
very great repugnance to crossing it. 

He even felt a momentary flash of anger and resent- 
ment at those who had invited him to cross ; who had 
really tempted him to do so with the bait of a nomina- 
tion which he now saw could never become an elec- 
tion ; and, had the representatives of the labor organ- 
ization been present at the moment, they would un- 
doubtedly have been given their answer in a point 
blank refusal to become their candidate. 

But the dream of a seat in congress having once 
come to him was not to pass away so speedily. It 
had suddenly become something to be desired, coveted, 
worked for. 

Now that he was able to judge of the situation 
calmly and critically, he saw that the laboring men, 
poor and poorly organized, accustomed to depend upon 
their party leaders for their political opinions and 
quite unaccustomed to act independently of them, 
offered but a frail basis on which to rest hopes of 
political preferment. 

He knew too — though the knowledge had not im- 
pressed him so strongly before — that the larger 
employers of labor, like the great farm implement 
manufactory and the rolling mills located in his own 
town, were in the habit of indicating to their employees 
how they wished them to vote, and of enforcing their 


42 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


wishes by quietly discharging, after election, such 
as had failed to comply. 

This fact had been made known to him by one of 
the local politicians of the town, previous to the last 
county election ; and as the statement had been accom- 
panied with an estimate of the vote in the precinct at 
which the employees of one of the large factories voted, 
and as the estimate, although totally different from 
what would naturally follow a free expression of 
opinion from that number of voters, had proven to be 
an extremely accurate summary of the votes as they 
were cast and counted, he felt constrained to believe 
that his informant knew what he was talking about 
when he told him that it was customary for employers 
of large bodies of laboring men to regard their votes 
as a part of the commodity paid for by their weekly 
wage, and to insist on their being cast in what they — 
the employers — considered their own interests. How 
then, could he expect the votes of the laboring men to 
be given him if he became the champion of ideas and 
measures that their employers would not approve of? 

He saw very clearly that he could not expect it. 
That neither himself nor any other man could be 
elected by the laboring men in their present financial 
condition, and with their yet imperfect organization. 

Still he could not bring himself to dismiss entirely 
the thought of going to congress. 

The thought, the wish, had fastened itself upon 
him, and would not be shaken off; and he speedily 
found his wits darting off, first in this and then in 
that direction, seeking for material to build a bridge 
over which he might cross to the object of his desire. 

Could not the employers of labor be brought to an 
understanding of the situation? Would they be so 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


43 


much opposed to himself as to refuse to permit their 
men to vote for him if they desired? Could he not 
talk with them personally and by assuring them that 
he was not a communist, and had no sympathy with 
any who sought to destroy society, and also by proving 
to them that he was a friend to capital as well as labor 
and only sought to assist them to harmonious relation- 
ship, could he not thus induce them to give him their 
personal support and countenance, so enabling the 
laboring men to vote as they wished and at the same 
time making certain of its being solid for him? 

Or if this could not be — and he felt that much as it 
ought to be, it was not certain that it could be accom- 
plished — could not the laborers be sufficiently organized 
and drilled to turn the tables on their employers 
and refuse in a body to work for them longer if they 
did not support the labor candidate? 

That such an idea as this of the laborer compelling . 
the employer to vote in their interest should have 
been presented to Swanson’s mind shows how wild 
was becoming the flight of his wits in their effort to 
bring material for his bridge. 

He was not so far gone, however, as not to reject as 
absurd and ridiculous the suggestion thus brought 
him. He rejected it instantly, and as quickly as it 
came; but the effort to do so, and to do so upon 
grounds satisfactory to his logical mind withdrew all 
sensation and all motion from his body and caused 
him to stop, with the suddenness almost of a jerk, his 
pacing back and forth, and to stand for a moment 
with every muscle in the exact position it occupied 
when the thought was introduced into his brain. 

It took but an instant for his trained mind to reject 
the idea thrust upon him ; and as abruptly as he had 


44 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


paused so he resumed his occupation of walking back 
and forth again. 

But the chain of his thought was broken. His 
wandering fancy returned and refused to go out any 
more in search of farther material for the bridge ; and 
Swanson — suddenl)' recalled to himself — perceived 
that it was already dark in his room ; that the sun was 
out of sight behind the hills, and that his supper hour 
was long since passed. 

He drew a deep breath, as of one who had toiled up 
a long and steep hill, took up his hat and turned to 
leave the room and the building. 

Inserting the key in the lock of the office door, he 
hesitated and felt more than half inclined not to go for 
supper at all. 

“I am not hungry,” he said; “I believe I’ll not go.” 

Then he changed his mind. "I’ll feel better for a 
cup of tea, anyway,” he muttered, “and maybe it will 
help me to see the head and tail of this thing in some 
sensible kind of a light.” 

He locked the door, and turning, walked toward 
his hotel. A few blocks away, and in a locality some- 
what unfrequented at that hour, Peters suddenly came 
out of a doorway and met him. 

“Good evening, Mr. Swanson,” he said. ‘T would 
like to talk with you about what we went to see you 
for to-day. I’ve got a scheme that will elect you sure, 
if you will go into it. Nothing wrong or unfair about 
it, but just good political sense; you’ll say so when 
youhear it.” 

Swanson hesitated an instant, then said : 

“Come to my office in an hour; I’ll be back by that 
time.” And he passed on. 

An hour later he was sitting opposite Mr. Peters at 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


45 


a small table in his own bedroom. The blinds were 
drawn, and Peters was disclosing his plan. 

Later still a ten-dollar bill was transferred from 
Swanson’s pocketbook to that of Mr. Peters ; and then 
the latter rose and took his departure. 

The plan had appeared to Swanson to be at least 
worth trying. 


CHAPTER V. 


How the proposed action of the laboring men became noised abroad, and 
how the different elements in society viewed it. Mr. Peters has a7t 
interview with Mr. Hardiman, who is a large manufacturer^ and 
forgets his intention of forming the acquaintance of the young lady 
who is Mr. Hardiman' s secretary. 

The fact that the working men of the district would 
make an independent nomination for Congress, and 
that the nomination would probably be tendered to 
Horace Swanson, became noised about, and various were 
the comments made upon it. 

Some, whose standing in society and in the church 
was high, denounced it as the work of socialists and 
anarchists, who, they declared, were seeking to destroy 
all government and all order, and who should be 
regarded as wild animals to be shot down at sight, 
or gotten rid of in the easiest and most expeditious 
manner possible. 

Others thought it due to the dissatisfaction of the 
workers over 'their failure to get any of their men upon 
the ticket of either party at the last local election. 
Others said the movement was due to the action of 
the last Congress, which had made a change in the 
tariff laws that had affected the laboring people 
adversely, and that they now proposed to send a man 
there especially to represent their views upon this 
all-important issue. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


47 


The temperance folk thought it was what society 
had to expect from men whom it permitted to be con- 
stantly exposed to the temptation of indulging in intox- 
icating liquors, and who — they asserted — spent their 
idle hours in saloons, where their associations were of 
the worst character imaginable, and from whence noth- 
ing but evil could possibly spring. 

The clergy agreed that the whole matter, beginning 
with and including the discontent of the laborers with 
their condition, could only be accounted for by the 
fact that they had almost universally withdrawn them- 
selves from the influence of the church ; and one of 
their number preached a sermon upon “The Church 
and its duties to the working classes” in which, with- 
out directly mentioning local affairs, he drew a fright- 
ful picture of the danger to society from the power of 
the ballot when wielded b}^ ignorant and irreligious 
men ; a danger already beginning to make itself mani- 
fest in the land even to the dullest intellect, arid from 
which, he asserted, the wisest men of the nation had 
been able to suggest but two roads for escape. The 
one was “a change to a stronger form of government, 
which neither he nor any other devoted lover of the 
Republic founded by our patriot fathers a century ago 
would approve or consent to, except as a dernier 
ressort — a means of saving the spirit of the Republic 
when foreign-born vandals, and ignorant dupes of such, 
should have made any other remedy impossible, and 
when a failure to accept this last resource should 
become treason to humanity and to God.” 

The other was to a property qualification for voters, 
placed sufficiently high to prevent the ignorant and 
vicious from exercising any influence in elections. 
These — the eloquerit clergyman repeated — “were to be 


48 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


regarded as last resorts ; possible last fortifications to 
be taken and held when all things else failed. But for 
the present the duty of the church and of society was 
plain ; it was to go down among the ignorant, mis- 
guided people and by telling them of the wondrous love 
of Him who died for them on the cross and of how 
great is the reward in heaven of those who, like Him, 
bear their burdens humbly, and seek in all things to 
glorify God, regarding wealth and honor as nothing 
compared to thd riches awaiting them in that future 
life, thus bring them into the church and so throw 
about them the influence which alone can redeem 
them from their present evil desires.” 

"If the church would do this, ” he declared, "if it would 
go to these discontented people throughout the length 
and breadth of the land and draw them into the church 
and into the Sunday-schools, where they would be 
surrounded by the proper moral influences and taught 
to regard their neighbor’s rights as sacred as their 
own, then indeed would society be safe, and then, oh, 
joyous thought ! then might those who had taken part, 
look to hear from the Master’s lips the gracious words : 
‘Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the 
joy of the Lord !’ ” 

"The way to -purify society," he continued, "is to 
purify the individual members of it ; to get them into 
the church and surround them with the holy atmos- 
'phere of the religion of Jesus Christ, who was him- 
self a carpenter, and poor, yea poorer than the poorest 
among you ; for do you not remember how he said : 
'The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have 
nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his 
head’? Surely, O, my brethren, if we go to these 
jnen, these ignorant men who would destroy society 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


49 


because of some real or fancied wrongs growing out of 
causes that they cannot fathom or understand, surely 
if we go to them in the name of the Carpenter of 
Nazareth they will listen and will be controlled and 
guided, and society will be saved, and the church up- 
builded and the Most High glorified.” 

But the class that talked most and loudest was the 
small politicians. Upon the one side they said it was 
a trick of the opposition, and an attempt to steal votes 
from them ; that the laboring men of the district had 
mostly voted with them in the past, and this was an 
effort to steer them into the other party by a round- 
about road. 

And those of the opposition party said it was a trick 
of the other fellows to beat them. That, seeing they 
were losing ground with the voters, and fearing they 
might not be able to carry the district and re-elect 
their man by fair means, they had put up a job with 
the labor leaders, and had hired Swanson to accept 
the labor nomination, hoping that he would draw, 
enough from among his former political associates and 
the circle of his personal friends to defeat them and 
leave the present occupant of the seat still in Congress. 
And they were ready to declare that Swanson was a 
traitor and ought to be tarred and feathered ; only, 
that not having been given their cue by their party 
bosses, they were not sure any more than were those 
who said the other thing that they knew what they 
were talking about. 

For, as I have said, the politicians who were the 
first to speak up, as the rumor of the possible nomi- 
nation of Swanson spread, were the little fellows ; the 
ward politicians ; the hangers-on ; those who follow, 
but who are always anxious to appear to lead. They 


50 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


were the men who, in this as in all similar cases, were 
ea^er to exhibit their political acumen, and first to 
explain to a public more or less desirous of knowing, 
the inward meaning of all movements upon the political 
chess-board. 

The true leaders, the really brainy men, those who 
dictate the movements of their respective parties, said 
very little at first, and what they did say conveyed 
but scant information ; nor did it even indicate the 
true direction of their thoughts. They were not yet 
certain what effect the movement among the laboring 
men would have upon their respective parties, and they 
did not therefore know whether they wished the nom- 
ination to be made or not. 

The decision of the working men had been rather 
sudden and unexpected ; and neither the Democratic 
nor Republican leaders knew whether a loss or a gain to 
their respective candidates would result from it ; hence, 
they were silent as not knowing what direction to 
.give to the public sentiment that was theirs to control. 

But if silent, they were not idle. Before three days 
had passed every leader or man of prominence among 
the laboring men had been approached by men from 
either party who sought by careful questioning to learn 
the real incentive and probable strength of the move- 
ment, that they might profit by such knowledge as was 
to be gained. 

Both Nixon and Peters were repeatedly interviewed ; 
sometimes openly by known party leaders, sometimes 
secretly by laboring men — not members of any organi- 
zation — who came ostensibly to talk about joining, but, 
in reality, sent by their employers or political bosses, 
with instructions to learn anything they could about 
the progress the movement was making among them, 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


51 


and about the leaders personally, and to report the 
same to those who sent them. 

Peters was in his element, and happy. To have 
men coming to him for information about political 
matters seemed to him to elevate him at once into a 
person of recognized ability and power. He already 
saw himself, in prospective, occupying positions of 
influence and authority as the acknowledged spokesman 
and leader of the labor forces of the country ; and as 
such, dictating terms to the bosses of both the great 
political organizations. His replies to his interviewers 
were such as he fancied were best calculated to impress 
each with his own importance, and were varied to suit 
the standing and influence of the questioner. To 
those whom he recognized as citizens without political 
influence, he assumed a rather mysterious air, as of 
one who could but would not impart valuable informa- 
tion. To those whom he recognized as persons of in- 
fluence he was boastful of the strength that the laborers 
could exhibit at the polls ; claiming them to be per- 
fectly organized throughout the district and the state, 
and firm in their determination to stand by the man 
they should nominate, though refusing to say positively 
who that would be. 

I think there were moments about this time when 
Peters conceived the possibility of himself being the 
candidate, so puffed up was he by his suddenly acquired 
prominence. 

Nixon was much more quiet in his talk, and in the 
end much less frequently interviewed. Men who go 
to interview another, want that other to talk. If a 
reporter, he wishes him to talk for publication ; if a 
politician who seeks information for any reason, he 
wishes him to talk that he may judge from his manner 


52 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


and from the way he approaches the subject or avoids 
it, quite as much as from what he actually says, what 
his plans are, and what are the purposes and expecta- 
tions of those whom he represents. And -when it was 
learned that Nixon was close mouthed, and would say 
little beyond the fact that the laboring men were 
organized and had determined to nominate a candidate 
of their own for Congress, he was left pretty much to 
himself ; while those who sought farther news, hunted 
up Peters, whom it was understood had himself in- 
timated that he was the one to apply to for informa- 
tion, as all correspondence passed through his hands; 
and that Nixon was only a kind of figure- head at best, 
without much influence, and would be superseded at 
the next election by an abler man. Even the laboring 
men themselves who had formerly regarded Nixon as 
the better man of the two began to flock about and 
consult Peters rather than him. This was due in part 
to seeing the petty politicians consulting him, and partly 
because they desired to have their courage kept up — 
something which Peters’ boastful manners and words 
went far toward doing. Thus, Peters was strengthened 
in his position as leader by both sides, and was not 
without some excuse for the feeling of growing impor- 
tance that was taking posession of him. 

Beside, Peters really had a plan in his head ; the 
one suggested to Swanson in the conference on the 
night following the visit of both Nixon and Peters to 
Swanson’s office as the delegates of the labor organiza- 
tion, and the one approved by that gentleman, as was 
signified by the passage of the ten-dollar bill from 
his pocket to that of Peters ;’ Peters having represen- 
ted that the carrying out of the plan agreed on would 
necessitate the loss of a good deal of time on his part. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


53 


and the expenditure of some little money which he 
himself did not possess. 

It was on Wednesday that the conference between Mr. 
Swanson and the labor representatives was first held. 
On Saturday, when the employes at the factory where 
Peters worked, went to the office of the company to 
draw their pay, the functionary who presided, as he 
handed Peters the little roll of bills due him, said 
quietly and without looking up or attracting the atten- 
tion of those who were in the line behind hirh : 

“The proprietor wishes to see you ; please step into 
the private office; you will find him there.” 

Filled with alternate fear that he was about to be 
discharged for the part he was taking in the labor 
movement, and of hope that he was going to receive 
some new assurance of his importance as a leader, he 
stepped out of line, passed around to the office door 
and entered. Seeing no one but a young lady at 
the far side of the room, busily employed at a desk, 
he hesitated a moment and then coughed slightly to 
attract her attention with the purpose of asking where 
he should find Mr. Hardiman. 

At the sound which indicated the presence of some 
one in the room, the young lady raised her eyes, and 
anticipating Peters’ question, pointed to a door over 
which he read “Private office,” said simply: 

“You will find Mr. Hardiman in there.” 

Then dropped her eyes again upon her work and 
took no farther notice of him. 

“Mighty pretty girl the old man’s got for secretary; 
wonder who she is,” mutely commented Peters; 
“blamed if I don’t get acquainted with her.” 

And he would have made an effort to prolong the con- 
versation a moment more but that she kept her eyes 


54 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


fastened on her work, and gave him no opportunity 
except by a direct and uncalled for interruption for 
which he could think of no excuse; so, abandoning 
the idea, but with a mental declaration of determina- 
tion to speak to her at some future time, he approached 
the door marked “Private," and gave a rather timid 
knock. 

Being bidden to enter, he did so, and found himself 
in the presence of Mr. Hardiman, head of the firm by 
which he was employed ; but to whom he had never 
spoken in his life, though he had worked in this same 
factory for nearly two years. 

As Peters entered and came forward in a slightly 
hesitating way, the other gave him a glance that took 
him in from head to foot and seemed to size him up 
and weigh him, Peters thought ; and he did not feel 
particularly well satisfied with what those mental scales 
seemed to declare his weight to be. Although he 
someway felt compelled to acknowledge to himself 
that he had been correctly weighed, yet he met this 
stab at his self-esteem with the unspoken assertion 
that others had weighed him and declared that he 
weighed more ; a great deal more. 

However he had little time for such thoughts; for 
after the one searching glance, his employer motioned 
him to a seat, saying as he did so : 

“This is Mr. Peters, I believe, one of our employes, 
and the recognized leader of the organized working 
men of the district?” 

This was said in a tone and with a manner, which, 
without making Peters exactly certain of his ground, 
yet caused his bosom to swell with renewed courage 
and hope. He believed that this man, this person of 
wealth and influence and standing, was about to con- 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 5^ 

Suit him; to ask his advice, possibly his assistance in 
some great political scheme; and he felt eager to 
announce himself as the recognized and only leader 
of the laboring men; yet was deterred from doing so 
by his fears, and spoke less of the truth than he would 
like to have done when he said : 

"Yes, sir; I have worked for you, your company 1 
mean, for going on two years ; part of the time by the 
day and part by piece work ; and I think the foreman 
will tell you, sir, that he has never had any fault to 
find with me, sir." 

"And what about your being the leader of the organ^ 
ized workingmen of the district?” 

"Well, sir ; as for that, we are organized : that is, a 
portion of us are, and I am secretary of one of the 
organizations ; of the central one, in fact. I suppose 
you don’t object to your employes organizing for sick 
benefits and social pleasures, do you, sir?” 

"But how about going into politics? I am told you 
are going to put up a candidate for Congress. Don’t 
you know that that will certainly cause the defeat of 
the party to which I belong, and to which you and 
all the laboring men ought to belong, since it is the 
only party that looks after the laboring man’s interests 
and protects him against competition with the pauper 
labor of Europe by a tariff which, by protecting the 
"manufacturer, enables him to pay better wages to his 
workmen then he could do if he had to compete with 
the manufacturers in countries where they pay less 
wages?" 

"That’s it, exactly, " replied Peters, who began to 
think he saw the way clear before him. "That’s 
exactly what we are driving at. We want a man in 
Congress who will work for the interests of both the 


56 CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 

manufacturer and the laborer; one who is in favot 
of protecting ’em. That’s what we want, and we are 
going to nominate such a man, and we want help to 
elect him, and to beat the man who is there now, and 
who voted to reduce the tariff and so cut down our 
wages. " 

His listener showed a faint, a very faint disposition 
to smile at Peters’ declaration of the wants of the men 
he professed to represent, but he suppressed it, and 
said : 

“I am glad to see that you take so sensible a view of 
the situation. I have been told that you were clear- 
headed and capable or I should not have sent for you. 
Have you determined upon who is to be your can- 
didate?” 

“Not positively. That is, not so positively but that 
a change might be made. We have talked of Mr. 
Swanson ; but if some other man was thought to be 
abler, our men might be induced to change. We 
have not nominated yet. ” 

Again the idea had come to Peters that possibly he 
himself might be thought of as the proper person for 
the exalted position under consideration. 

But evidently no such idea had occurred to Mr. 
Hardiman. He appeared to be considering for a 
moment, though without taking his eyes off Peters. 
Then he said : 

"Supposing you laboring men should nominate Mr. 
Swanson and then the party to which I belong should 
endorse him, do you think your men would stick by 
him and help us elect him?” 

“Of course they would,” replied Peters; “that is, if 
we don’t conclude to nominate some one else instead; 
and as to that the men will do what I say for them to 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


57 


do. You don’t think of any other person you would 
prefer to Mr. Swanson, do you?” 

“Not at present,” replied Mr. Hardiman. “I don’t 
think there would be any great objection to Mr. 
Swanson. He is a gentleman of ability and standing 
and would probably be as unobjectionable as any one 
you could select.” 

“Of course,” he added, “I have no authority to pledge 
my party to any course of action in the matter. I only 
sought to know what the laboring men desired, being 
anxious — as I always am — to aid them in every 
reasonable and lawful effort they may make to better 
their condition. The party to which I belong has 
always been friendly to the working classes, and will — 
I feel sure — consider the proposition which you make 
of endorsing Mr. Swanson after you have nominated 
him. I will perhaps have occasion to consult with you 
again in a few days. Meantime, if you have need of 
a little leisure to work up your men I will tell the 
foreman to keep your place for you until you wish to 
return to it.” 

“You can depend on me to have my men in shape 
all right,” replied Peters. “They will do anything I 
say.” And picking up his hat from the floor beside 
his chair, he passed out of the door of the private 
office and into the street, feeling that while he did not 
seem to stand any chance for the nomination himself, 
he was undoubtedly the power behind the throne that 
was directing things, and not doubting that he should 
in time be able to demand anything he wanted, and 
get it, too. 

In his own opinion he was just about the shrewdest 
politician in that community, and he felt that the fact 


58 congressman SWANSON 

was rapidly coming to be recognized by all the other 
shrewd ones. 

So filled was he with these thougfhts of his own im- 
portance that not until he had Walked half a block in 
the direction of his boarding house, did he remember 
his recent intention of finding something to say to the 
pretty girl at the desk as he came back through the 
office. 

“She had gone home, anyway,” he mentally com- 
mented ; “she was not in the office as I came out. No 
matter, I shall have plenty of chances. I reckon the 
old man will be wanting to see me pretty often from 
this on. The old fellow knows who to consult when 
he wants anything done ; that^s evident. ” 

And he passed on down the street toward his room. 
He did not go there directl}’, however, nor for more 
than an hour. Instead, he stepped into first one place 
and then another, where he thought he would meet 
those who would endeavor to “pump him,” as he 
called it. Pump him for information about the new 
political movement. There was nothing that Peters 
enjoyed so much as being “pumped.” It added to 
his sense of dignity and power to have people question 
him, as if he were possessed of valuable information 
that no one else had a share in. 


CHAPTER VI. 


Mr. Swanson calls upon a certain young lady at which Mr^ Peters feels 
that he has cause for grievance. Mr. Swanson asks for information 
and is referred to another gentleman who has already bee7t introduced 
to the reader. 


' ~ Tall like the mountain, 

Fair as the flowers, 

Pure as the fountain, 

Sweet as the bowers, 

And the far stars that shine 
Like diamonds in the mine 
Tell of my lover fine — 

My handsome lover. 

When the sun’s last beams 
Close the dear flowers. 

Tinsel the mountain streams 
Hide in the bowers 
Hastens my lover sweet 
Then to kneel at my feet, 

Making my life complete; 

My handsome lover. 

In a little four-room cottage on one of the back 
streets of Smithville, a young girl was passing about 
without any apparent settled purpose, but rather to keep 
time with her thoughts which were evidently pleasant 
ones. 

From bed-room to parlor, the latter the one carpeted 
room in the house, then to the porch she flitted, 
stopping here to arrange the curtains of soft white 

59 


6o 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


muslin more artistically, there to teach a spray of the 
vine that clambered over the porch some new direction 
to wander, now humming the tune and now caroling 
in a low voice the simple little old-fashioned love song 
the reader found at the beginning of this chapter, and 
occasionally casting a glance down the shaded street in 
the direction of the main portion of the town as if 
expecting, but not anxious as yet, for the coming of 
some one. It was Sunday afternoon, and nearing the 
cooler hours of the day ; what in the southern states 
would be called “the evening,” although yet some 
hours before the sun’s regular bed time ; it was in fact 
the time at which on pleasant Sabbath afternoons 
young gentlemen in our smaller towns and cities begin 
to adjust their neckties, brush the dust from their shoes 
and re-arrange their scalp-locks preparatory to making 
calls upon some of the young ladies with such sugges- 
tions as “This is a pleasant time to take a walk under 
the trees, or along the banks of the creek.” Just the 
time in the afternoon when the maidens begin to look 
out of their windows to see if any young gentleman is 
coming that way ; or, to be still more accurate, forty- 
five minutes before said maidens expect the aforesaid 
young gentleman to put in an appearance at their 
doors. 

If it had not been about that length of time before 
she expected some one, the young lady to whom we 
are about to introduce the reader would not have been 
peeping out to see if her expected caller was coming ; 
at least, I do not think she would, for I have noticed 
that young ladies generally do their peeping in advance 
of the expected arrival of their lovers, which proves 
of course, that their action in this respect is the prompt- 
ing simply of a bit of curiosity. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


6i 


They just would like to know if he is on the way, 
that is all. They do not care particularly whether he 
comes or not; at least, they are in no hurry to have 
him arrive; a fact which they clearly demonstrate by 
never allowing any one to catch them peeping at the 
time when they really do expect him. 

And so we know that this young lady was not 
expecting a caller ; that is, not expecting him at the 
moment; not really expecting him for a half hour at 
least, for we have ourselves caught her peeping down 
the street to make sure he was not coming, and she 
would not have done that, would not even have ap- 
peared upon the porch of the cottage lest she be 
thought too eager for his presence, and above all would 
not have permitted herself to be heard caroling the 
foolish love song which she had picked up recently 
out of some old book and set to music out of her own 
heart, she would not have done all or any of these 
things if she had really expected any one yet, if she 
had not felt certain he would not come for a good 
half hour. 

For this young maiden was not engaged to her 
expected caller; she had not plighted her love, and 
did not know, had not met any one yet to whom she 
really wished to plight it. And she was a modest 
maiden and would not for the world have done or said 
anything to lead any young man to think she had given 
him her affection. Yet when coming out of church 
that morning, Horace Swanson had, as if by accident, 
appeared at her side, had walked with her as far as their 
roads led in the same direction, and at parting, had 
asked permission to call upon her that afternoon, she 
had consented with a feeling of something — some 
fountain of sweets — bubbling up in her heart — of the 


62 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


sudden bursting forth into song of a bird, of whose 
presence she had no previous knowledge. And all 
the way home to her father’s cottage, and all the time 
she was preparing the frugal meal, and afterward while 
she cleared the table and washed the dishes, this same 
song-bird had twittered and sung in her heart, and its 
music had overflowed at her lips in such simple ditty 
as that which the reader has overheard. 

■ She had dressed herself after her work in the kitchen 
was done, in a white dress of mull, and had wreathed 
her dark hair about her head in a manner at once 
simple and artistic. Of jewlery she had none that did 
not seem to be too cheap for the day and the occasion, 
and in lieu of a pin^ she had leaned far over the porch 
railing and had gathered a bunch of lilac-blooms and 
fastened them at her throat ; and very certain am I 
that Horace Swanson thought she needed no farther 
adornment as he came up the street a few minutes 
ahead of regulation time, and saw her pass the open 
door from the porch into the little parlor, quite as if 
she had not caught a glimpse of him the moment he 
emerged from behind the shrubbery which, in the far 
corner of the adjoining yard, hid for a space the ap- 
proach of anyone coming from that direction. Nor 
did he seem to change his mind regarding her sweet 
appearance as she took one little step forward upon 
the porch in acknowledgement of his presence while 
yet he was ascending the steps, for there was a very 
admiring look in his eyes, and a very genial smile 
wreathing his lips at that moment. 

And, there was yet another who saw and admired, even 
if he did not appreciate, the pure beauty of the girl ; 
for there chanced to come around the corner from the side 
street while yet Miss Mason and Mr. Swanson exchanged 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


63 


greetings, one with whom the reader is already 
acquainted, and will recognize, albeit he is dressed a 
trifle more elaborately than we have ever seen him 
before, and walks with an air of importance which is 
too newly assumed to sit easily upon him. It is Mr. 
Peters. 

Catching sight of Swanson as that gentleman 
ascended the cottage steps, Peters hurried forward 
with the intention of calling to him. This, not that he 
had previously wished to see him particularly, but 
prompted by a natural desire to have speech with one 
between whom and himself there were certain confi- 
dences. 

Just as he was in the breath of speaking, however, 
his eye caught sight of her whom Swanson was ad- 
dressing, and the words he was about to utter seemed 
quietly and without sound to distill themselves from 
his open mouth, while he stood for an instant too much 
surprised to walk on. 

Recalling himself, he moved forward with his face 
turned to the street, with an air which he intended to 
be very careless, and to indicate that he was in total 
ignorance of the fact that any one he knew or had ever 
seen before was in the cottage; but as soon as he felt 
himself screened from the observation of its occupant, 
he quickened his gait to correspond more nearly with 
his aroused feelings. 

“Pm cursed,” he muttered, “if that wasnT old Har- 
diman’s office girl ; the one I saw in his office the day 
I was there ; prettier’n ever, too ; prettiest girl in 
town. And Swanson’s waitin’ on her.” 

“Wish I could find someway to trip Swanson, I’d 
do it, too quick. It was enough to keep me out of the 
nomination to Congress without taking the girl too, 


64 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


That^s more than any gentleman ought stand, and you 
bet Pm a gentleman and I mean to get even with him 
some day ; I ain’t going to be trod on always. ” 

While Peters was thus making complaint to himself, 
Swanson had entered the cottage at the invitation of 
Miss Mason, and at her insistance had seated himself 
in the only easy-chair in the room, and near one of the 
windows while she took a seat near the other window. 

Usually at his ease and a good talker, Swanson felt 
a strange sense of embarrassment on first coming into 
the presence of this young girl, but soon overcame it 
and led off the conversation ; and together the two 
chatted. The weather, Mr. Goodman’s sermon, to 
which they had listened that ;«'iorning, the Sunday 
school, which both attended, furnished them themes for 
a time. Then some little society events which had 
transpired recently, and of which the young lady, not 
being exactly in society, although not exactly excluded 
from it, felt some interest, and regarding which she 
expressed a desire for information formed the topics of 
what was to each a very pleasant conversation, although 
each felt there was another subject which — if it could 
be approached in just the right way — would be still 
more interesting. 

Now the reader is not to jump to the conclusion, 
drawn from his own observation or experience, that 
the subject upon which these young people were 
anxious yet doubting how to begin talking was 
love or marriage ; for I assert that it was not. Or if, 
possibly, some slight feeling of a future unity of inter- 
ests between them existed at all, it was unacknowl- 
edged by either, and existed only in their pre-con- 
scious minds, not yet having reached the conscious 
stage of growth. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


65 


That it did exi^t, and was the secret power moving 
them to talk of what was a matter of present personal 
interest to only one of them, is possible ; but I say 
again that neither acknowledged it, or in truth knew 
of its existence. 

Swanson had just passed through a period of change- 
ful and tumultuous feeling. This was the second 
Sunday since his interview with Nixon and Peters, at 
which they had first asked him to permit the use of 
his name as the laboring men’s candidate for Congress ; 
and twenty-four hours had now scarcely elapsed since 
they had met in convention and tendered him the 
formal nomination. Every day since that first inter- 
view — not excepting the Sabbath of last week — he had 
been in consultation some portion of the day or night, 
either with the bosses of the old party, with which he 
had affiliated in the past, or with some representative 
of the labor organization, usually Peters, and had 
been the prey of alternate hopes and fears, of burning 
desire for a seat in Congress, and of loathing disgust 
for the means by which alone it appeared possible to 
obtain it. 

His sense of justice had been shocked and his man- 
hood insulted by the proposition that had come to him 
from the “bosses” of his own political party regarding 
his future action, predicated upon the possibility of 
his election and contingent upon his receiving the 
countenance and support of that party at the polls. 
And when in the integrity of a soul not naturally evil, 
and in the flush of indignant feelings at what he felt 
to be an insult to his honor — he would have rejected 
their proposition, and did turn to the laboring men for 
counsel and upbearing, he was met by Peters who 
seemed to him during these days of trial and indeci- 


66 


CONGRESSMAN SAVANSON 


sion to be omnipresent, with arguments to show that 
he ought to sell his convictions of right to-day for the 
power to do good to the people in the future ; or if not 
by Peters, then by others claiming to represent the 
laboring men, but whose dense ignorance of economic 
questions was so apparent — even to Swansortwho knew 
that he himself understood the most simple of them 
but imperfectly — that his disgust at the dishonesty of 
the one was only equaled by his feeling of disappoint- 
ment at the ignorance and weakness of the other. And 
between these two feelings, and with ambition pricking 
at him to urge him forward, he had rather stood still 
than moved either to retreat or advance, and had been 
a negative more than a positive factor in the skirmish 
for position ; at the end of which, he found himself the 
nominee of the laboring men of his district and with a 
pledge from the bosses, a promise he knew they were 
certainly able to redeem if they would, to give him the 
endorsement of that one of the political parties which 
had heretofore been in a small, but only a small 
minority, in the district. 

And he had retired to bed the night before, after 
learning the result of the labor convention, weary and 
worn; not so much of body as of soul; but having 
accepted mentally the existing condition of things, 
and ceased to protest against them, had slept soundly 
and risen with a feeling of renewed strength and spirit ; 
had dressed with scrupulous care, and after breakfast, 
sauntered out to religious services with a feeling of 
good fellowship for all the world, and a desire to 
remain long in it and enjoy its honors, its comforts and 
pleasures to the fulest. 

At Sunday school, he had met as on many another 
Sunday, the young lady with whom we left him con- 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


67 


versing but a moment ago. Her sweet face and earnest 
yet modest deportment had always a certain attraction 
for him, and he had once before called on her, and 
had then thought to do so soon again. But she was 
not in his set exactly ; she was too poor to dress 
fashionably, and too obscure to receive attentions from 
the leaders of society; for even Smithville had its 
society leaders ; and so he seldom saw her except at 
church and Sunday school, and then did not always 
have opportunity to speak to her without specially 
seeking it, and he had ceased to think about his former 
intentions of again calling on her. 

But this morning, while sitting in the church, his 
eyes had someway been drawn again and again to her 
face, and had rested there with a fuller appreciation 
of her beauty than ever before. There appeared to be 
something restful in her face and attitude, something 
strong yet sweetly gentle, something that begot con- 
fidence and held it, something that promised repose 
to him who should knock at the door of her heart 
and waken it to attend his call. Half recognizing that 
he saw all this in her, he became mildly conscious of 
his own soul weariness, and of a desire to touch and 
be purified by contact with the purity which he saw 
shining out of the maiden ; and when — by what was to 
him as to her, mere accident — he had found himself 
at her side as they walked away from church at the 
close of the services, he had 3delded to a sudden desire 
to ask permission to call on her that afternoon, and 
receiving an affirmative reply, was now seated near 
her in fulfillment of that request and answer. 

And he wanted to talk to her of his own affairs, of his 
own suddenly enlarged prospects. 

He even became conscious, as he sought for some 


68 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


suitable way for the introduction of the subject, that he 
had come on purpose to talk of himself and his future. 

What he did not so fully recognize was the fact 
that he had come hoping that in some occult way his 
own feelings of lowered dignity and insulted manhood 
would be removed in the pure presence of this pure 
girl, and thus have restored to him the feeling of strict 
rectitude which he had lost in his conflict with the 
temptations which had assailed him during the past 
week. 

If he could have but this in addition to the position 
and honors which appeared about to fall to him he felt 
that he should be entirely happy. And it was this 
wish, this hope, that, unacknowledged to himself, had 
brought him to the cottage and into the presence of 
the maid. 

And she? 

What girl of eighteen who was not already in love 
with another, would not feel a fluttering at the heart at 
even so slight a mark of preference from a young man 
of acknowledged good looks, good moral character 
and splendid p’-ospects? 

And there were other reasons why this particular 
young lady should be pleased with the attention of this 
particular young gentleman. 

Jennie Mason — for that is her name — is the daughter 
of Joseph Mason. 

Now Joseph Mason was a mechanic, and at one time 
a builder, and pretty well to do in the world ; but, 
being possessed of inventive genius he became 
interested in, and attempted to develop certain 
devices for the more rapid production of wealth ; and 
although he succeeded in perfecting one of the most 
important of these, it was at the cost of so large a 


CONGKESSMAN SWANSON 


69 


portion of his accumulations that he was unable to put 
it upon the markets in a way to get returns from it and 
had transferred to the proprietor of one of the large 
factories a controlling interest in his invention, upon 
terms, which, while appearing advantageous at the 
time had proven not to be so ; as, although numbers 
of the machines were in use, the inventor and supposed 
partial owner of the patent had never received a dollar 
of income from them during the several years since they 
had first been put upon the market ; and when an 
accident had deprived him of the use of an arm, 
rendering him lame beside, his daughter Jennie had 
been forced — in order to procure the necessities of life 
for herself and father — to enter the employ of this very 
factory as secretary and correspondent. 

Even the cottage was mortgaged ; and in addition to 
supporting the family of two, Jennie^s salary had to be 
drawn upon periodically to pay interest on the mort- 
gage, which if foreclosed would leave them without a 
shelter over their heads. 

Cast down and half distraught by his accumulation 
of misfortunes, Mr. Mason had at first made loud com- 
plaint against fate, and had been ready, in the language 
of Job’s advisers, to curse God and die; but a better 
spirit had come to his relief, and instead of cursing 
God, he had sat diligently to work seeking for the 
cause — not alone of his own troubles, but of those of 
inventors and of producers of wealth the world over; and 
though not a member of any labor organization, and 
without great faith in any immediate good results to 
follow the present movement of the laborers, he yet 
S3^mpathized deeply with them, and naturally had 
taught his daughter to do so ; so that she now saw in 
Mr. Swanson, not simply a young man of ordinary 


70 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


metal and spirit, but the man whom the poor and 
oppressed among the people had selected as the one 
ablest among all their friends and sympathizers to be 
their spokesman and leader. 

She had heard Nixon — who occasionally spent an 
evening at the cottage in company with her father, 
equally with herself — speak well of him. And Doctor, 
who also sometimes called when in town, he having 
learned that he was certain of a kindly greeting and 
courteous treatment, Doctor had extolled the virtues 
of Mr. Swanson as often and as fully as his diffidence 
would admit ; so that altogether it is not wonderful 
that the heart of the young girl was quite open to an 
advance, had he made it, from the young knight whose 
gallantry and courage were so well established ; but who, 
instead of making love, was seeking rather for a way 
of introducing the subject of his own personal interests 
in a proper manner into the conversation. 

His companion came to his relief. She too, had 
wanted to talk, or hear him talk, of his nomination, and 
of the labor cause in which she supposed he felt the 
same great interest she and her father felt. 

She wanted, too, that he should feel that they were 
glad he was the man selected as the standard bearer 
of the labor cause, and she said : 

“We know, of course, Mr. Swanson, you were nomi- 
nated for Congress, yesterday, by the labor men. You 
will let me congratulate you, won’t you? And the 
men, too. I want to congratulate them in having 
selected you, who, everybody says are so able and 
ready to defend their cause. Papa did not go to the con- 
vention because it is so difficult for him to get about on 
his crutches ; but he will vote for you, and I hope you 
will be elected. And if you are, I know you can do a 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


71 


great deal of good for the poor people by championing 
their cause on the floors of Congress. Pd like to be 
there to hear you speak. ” * 

In her eagerness to make her companion understand 
that they, herself and her father, were in full sympathy 
with what she supposed were his own motives and 
desires she had run on without knowing where to 
stop, and was now blushing sweetly at the thought of 
her own boldness. 

“I am afraid you put too high an estimate upon me. 
Miss Mason, ” he replied; “at least, upon my abilities 
to serve the workingmen. I should like to do them a 
service, I am sure of that ; but I acknowledge that I 
do not understand as well as I wish I ,did, what it is 
they need, or how it is to be obtained. Maybe you 
can help me ; I assure you I shall be grateful for any 
assistance you can give.” 

This was not said banteringly or lightly. Again Mr. 
Swanson had come under the spell of the pure influence 
emanating from a pure woman of unusual intelligence 
and heart ; and his natural love for that which is noble 
and good had been awakened, and he really desired to 
be of use to his race, and immediately to the men who 
had honored him with a nomination, and with whom 
this young and beautiful girl was so evidently in full 
sympathy. So his expressed desire for help from her 
was an honest one, though I doubt if he really ex- 
pected anything of what might be considered a prac- 
tical character to be offered. 

Nor did she offer any. What she did say was : 

“If you are really in earnest, Mr. Swanson, and want 
any information or assistance of that kind, I am sure 
Papa or Mr. Nixon can give it to you. They don^t 
think of anything else, I guess. Any way, they never 


n 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


talk of anything but how to get the people out of their 
trouble ; and they are always studying somebody’s 
political economy. I listen to them, and occasionally 
try to read, myself, but as I have all the housework to 
do after I come home, or before I go to the office, I 
can’t get much time for it." 

"There comes Mr. Nixon now,” she added; and so 
ready was she to advance the cause of her espousal, and 
so sure that Mr. Swanson would be glad of any assis- 
tance or advice from those who were competent to give 
it, that she forgot to be sorry at having her conversa- 
tion with him interrupted by the entrance of another. 

Mr. Swanson was not so forgetful, but he was too 
much of a gentleman to show it. 

He greeted Nixon with hearty cordiality, and re- 
ceived an equally cordial greeting in return. This 
over and a few commonplace remarks about the weather 
having been made and replied to, Nixon turned to the 
girl and said : 

"Is your father in his room? With your permission. 
I’ll walk through and see.” 

"Papa is not in the house,” replied she. "He has 
gone to Mr. Brown’s, on the next square, but he will 
be back soon, and while you are waiting for him, you 
can talk with Mr. Swanson about what he ought to do 
when he gets to Congress. He says he wants to know 
all about what you and Papa think ought to be done, 
so that he can try and do it. ” 

Having heard her say this, Swanson himself believed 
that that was exactly what he did want, although he 
could not remember having expressed it so clearly in 
the conversation they were holding when Nixon came 
in ; but as he had evidently impressed her with that idea, 
he knew he must have said about that. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


73 


As for Nixon, he was too modest to claim ability to 
instruct Mr. Swanson ; but believing that he had — as 
Miss Mason stated — asked to be informed as to his own 
and her father’s views, he expressed a willingness to 
impart them, and seating himself upon the little sofa, 
which occupied the side of the room opposite the 
windows, he began by saying : 


CHAPTER Vll. 


Mr. Swanson obtains the information asked for, at which he evinces 
some surprise. A fterward he is given a bouquet for his button hole 
and permission to escort the certain young lady to church, 

“To begin, Mr. Swanson,” said Nixon, “I ought 
to explain that we labor men are not all agreed as to 
what is best to be done, or rather as to what Congress 
must do in order to change the present condition of 
things and secure a more equitable distribution of 
wealth. The platform adopted yesterday is not exactly 
what some of us desired, or thought ought to have 
been adopted. 

“I do not, of course, suppose you had anything to 
do with it, ”he continued, “but I have reason to believe 
that had not some of our men taken advice from those 
outside of our organization, and indeed, of those who 
consider their interest opposed to ours, the platform 
would have been different ; and I will be frank enough 
to say that although it might not be fair to you who, while 
not one of us, have shown yourself to be in sympathy 
with us, yet, for myself, I would much have preferred 
that you should not be endorsed by one of the old 
parties as you now, no doubt, will be, but that we had 
made the race entirely independent of them, and with 
the idea of educating the people \ getting them to 
understand our ideas and theories ; rather than with 
any great hope of electing our candidate. That was 

74 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


75 


the thought I had in going to you in the first place. 
I thought the people would listen to you where they 
won’t listen to us ; and that by nominating you, we 
could get our ideas before them. Understand, I don’t 
blame you for wishing to be elected, and I see now 
that we stood no chance of electing you without the 
aid of one or the other of the old parties. I am only 
saying I wish it could have been different. I under- 
stand pretty well what is going to be done, I think, and 
I shall vote for you and work for you, and I think you 
will be elected. Now as for what I think Congress 
ought to do : The platform adopted yesteday, declares 
opposition to monopolies generally, but without going 
into specifications as it should do. It demands a pro- 
tective tariff in flie interest of labor, and also favors 
an eight hour law, or a law making eight hours a legal 
day’s work. Then there are a good many other things 
tacked on that ought not to be, because they are of 
little importance compared to the main issues, and 
most of them refer to evils which are the result of 
broken laws lying farther back, and which can only be 
removed by removing the causes, which are not even 
hinted at in the platform. Now I understand you will 
be expected to make the fight mainly on the tariff and 
eight hour planks especially the former, and I do not 
doubt that is what will elect you ; but in my opinion, 
and, if I am not mistaken, that is what you have 
asked for, the proper adjustment between labor and 
capital will come — if it ever comes at all — through the 
adoption of a better financial system, and of laws 
which shall make the title to land depend upon use. 
I don’t think,” he went on, “that I understand the tariff 
question very well, though I have tried to, and have 
studied it a good deal. I can see, of course, that if 


76 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


the raw material is just as plenty and just as cheap in 
Europe as it is here, and if free competition is permitted 
between the manufacturers of the two countries, that the 
American manufacturers cannot pay wages in excess 
of those paid by the European manufacturers plus the 
cost of bringing the European goods to this country ; 
and so long as the European nations maintain their 
present monetary systems and systems of land tenure, 
wages must always be low there, and a great many 
people will be out of employment ; and as these will 
compete with the employed for a chance to work, the 
tendency of wages is and always will be toward the 
lowest sum which will sustain the life of the laborer. 
But I fail to see how placing a tariff upon manufactured 
articles and allowing free importation of labor is going 
greatly to help the laborers of this country or prevent 
the tendency to falling prices here; or how it is to ‘ 
benefit more than a very small class of our citizens. 

"For example, a tariff of two dollars a thousand on 
lumber compels the Canadian lumber dealer to add 
two dollars to the price per thousand of the lumber that 
he ships across Detroit river, and sells to the people in 
Michigan ;but it does not prevent the Michigan lumber- 
man from employing Canadian choppers and sawyers at 
the same wages they are paid in Canada, plus the trifling 
expense of their trip across the lake, while it enables him 
to obtain from the consumers of his lumber the two 
dollars per thousand which his Canadian competitor 
pays to our government as tariff. 

“Now, it may be this is not a fair example of the 
workings of the tariff in all cases, but I take it that the 
natural law of trade is the true one ; and, if there 
are any facts existing which seem to make it necessary 
io violate a natural law of trade, or place obstacles 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


77 


in the way of its action, that the cause for the seeming 
necessity is to be sought for, and will be found in the 
violation of some other natural law of trade. Some 
law way back perhaps, and which upon the face of it 
appears to have no near connection with this one, but 
which if discovered and obeyed, will right both wrongs. 

“Trade is, or should be, founded upon the idea of 
an equitable exchange of commodities based upon their 
cost in labor ; the skill requisite for their production 
being taken into consideration as one of the compo- 
nents of production. 

“The theory of our govermnent is, that what the 
laborer or citizen can do for himself individually, or 
by combining with some portion of his fellows less 
than the whole, that the government shall leave him to 
do. But that that which he cannot do, except unitedly 
and as a whole, the government shall do for all the 
people. 

“If I understand it, it is upon this theory that the 
government coins money but refuses to give employ- 
ment to the idle laborers of the country except upon 
such public works as are being carried on without con- 
sidering the needs of the people for employment. 

“Now, since the products of labor are exchanged 
through the medium of money, and since the govern- 
ment denies the power of the citizen or of any less a 
number of them than the whole to make money, and 
as government also denies its own right to employ any 
citizen upon a simple plea of being unable to obtain 
employment elsewhere, it seems to follow logically that 
the government fails to perform its duty to its citizens 
unless it furnishes them with that which — being the 
medium of exchange— is necessary to enable them to 
keep themselves employed. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


rs 


“Not to do this is for the ’government to become a 
party to their enforced idleness ; and by making it 
impossible for all to be employed at one time, to com- 
pel them to compete one with another for the privilege 
of laboring ; and thus slowly but certainly reduce the 
standard of wages to that which it has reached in 
portions of Europe, or the smallest sum which will 
sustain life and permit generation to continue. ” 

“Your position is certainly logical,” said Swanson, as 
Nixon paused. “Indeed, I must say I think it impreg- 
nable. Since money is absolutely necessary to the 
exchange of wealth, and as exchange is necessary to 
the continued production of wealth, and since the 
government reserves the right to coin money, it follows 
that the government must provide means whereby its 
citizens may obtain the money necessary to the making 
of their exchanges. But does not the government do 
this? True, it has recently demonetized silver, which 
I see now it ought not to have done, but it still coins 
gold and it keeps a large number of greenbacks in 
circulation ; and lest this be not enough, it has estab- 
lished the National Banking System, and has so framed 
the law governing the issue of charters to banks that 
every state and almost every communit}^ has one or 
more of them, and if more money is needed at any 
point, the banks stand ready to furnish it. How can 
the government do more? I ask because I want your 
view and opinions. I know some of your labor men 
are opposed to the National Banks, but I never knew 
exactly why. I own I have always regarded the National 
Banking System as the best this country or any other 
ever had. But I know you must have good reason for 
opposing it, and as I am to be your candidate, I wish 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


79 


to understand your reasons, so that I may represent 
you fairly when I attempt to speak for you. ” 

'“I am very glad to give you my reasons for opposing 
the National Banks, Mr. Swanson,” replied Nixon, 
"and if you will return wjth me to our first proposition, 
I think I can make plain to you why the banks do not 
fill the bill, or why the government has failed in its 
duty to its citizens in adopting the banks as a medium 
through which the people may get the money necessary 
to the making of their exchanges, and so keep them- 
selves emplo3'ed. 

“Our first proposition was that inasmuch as the 
people cannot produce without they can exchange, and 
cannot exchange without money, and as the government 
reserves to itself and denies to its citizens the power 
of making money, it is the duty of the government to 
provide those of its citizens who wish to produce 
wealth for exchange, with the medium of exchange, 
which they can procure nowhere else. Upon that pro- 
position we were agreed, were we not?” 

“Certainly,” replied Swanson, “that is perfectly clear 
and logical. A government that claims to be run in 
the interest of the people can have no possible cause 
for refusing to do for the people that which is neces- 
sary to their prosperity and happiness, and which it 
forbids them to do for themselves.” 

“And do you think the government has performed its 
duty to those who produce all the wealth of the 
country, when, instead of furnishing them with the 
mone)^ necessary to enable them to exchange their 
products with one another, it has furnished it instead 
to the class that produces nothing — to the banks?” 

So earnest had Nixon become in the presentation of 
his thought that he assumed much the position of an 


8o 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


attorney in court questioning a witness ; leaning for- 
ward in his seat and looking intently at Swanson, and 
even, as he put the final question, epiphasizing it by 
slightty raising his hand with the index finger extended 
and pointing directly at that gentleman. 

This action of Nixon, together with the fact that 
he felt himself being put at a disadvantage in the 
argument, and in the presence of a young lady whose 
admiration he ver}^ much desired to inspire, rather 
ruffled our prospective congressman and he moved a 
little uneasily in his chair ; there was a slight note of 
irritation in his voice as he replied ; 

“You would not want the government to give money 
to the wealth producers, would you?” 

Nixon was silent for a moment; he had noted the 
irritation in Swanson’s voice, and regretted having 
exhibited so much earnestness as to have provoked it. 
He felt no embarrassment because of it, however, and 
his silence was not due to any fear that he could not 
answer the question put to him so as to bring out the 
truth of his own theories. He was silent, because 
Swanson’s evident lack of thought upon the subject, 
and his irritation at having the facts in the case and 
the principle involved brought clearly before him, had 
started the query in his own mind whether or not it 
was possible ever to induce any considerable number 
of the people to give sufficient thought to the question 
to enable them to act intelligently upon it. 

“At what cost to the banks does the government 
furnish them their notes?” he asked at last. 

The quesion was put in a most respectful tone of 
voice, as if from a desire for information. Instead of 
looking at Swanson now, Mr. Nixon’s gaze was fixed 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 8i 

Upon the floor, and he seemed not wholly to have 
recalled his mind from its wanderings. 

Swanson answered promptly and correctly, showing 
he had a general understanding of the law governing 
the banks. 

"The government furnishes the bank-notes to the 
banks at one per cent. ” 

"And that one percent.,” queried Nixon in the same 
tone of voice ; "is that to cover the cost to the govern- 
ment of printing the notes furnished the banks?” 

"I suppose so.” 

"Then the government furnishes the banks money at 
cost. I think the men and women who produce wealth 
would be satisfied if the government would furnish 
them money on the same terms.” 

“But the banks deposit government bonds as security 
for the notes furnished tnem ; and anybody who has 
government bonds can take in four of his neighbors, 
organize a bank, and get these notes on the same 
terms as any other bank,” returned Mr. Swanson. 

"I thought we were agreed, Mr. Swanson,” said 
Nixon, with a smile, "that it was the duty of govern- 
ment to furnish those who produced wealth with the 
medium of exchange. If you are going to argue now, 
that it is the duty of the govermnent to furnish those 
who produce nothing with the medium of exchange, 
why, that is a different thing, and I must disagree 
with you.” 

Swanson laughed good naturedly. He had recovered 
from his irritation, and rather admired the mingling 
of shrewdness and candor which Nixon evinced in his 
handling of the subject. 

"You ought to have been an attorney, Mr. Nixon,” 

he said ; "you would have made a splendid one ; and 

6 


82 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


I have no doubt you ought to go to Congress instead of 
me. ’’ 

“I told 5^ou Mr. Nixon knew all about it," laughed 
Miss Mason, who had sat silently watching and listen- 
ing while the two young men argued. "He hasn’t 
done anything else but study this question for the last 
year — except to work in the mill daytime, ” she added, 
laughing again at her own words. 

The two gentlemen joined in the laugh right 
heartily ; and for a few moments the conversation took 
on a lighter character, and consisted principally of 
harmless jokes and pleasant badinage. And then 
Swanson, turning to Nixon, said : 

"I can’t let you off without one more question. You 
do not, I suppose, want the government to hand out 
money to everybody who produces wealth indiscrimi- 
nately? Now what security have the wealth producers 
generally to offer the government on which you would 
advise it to issue and loan them notes?" 

“Pardon me, Mr. Swanson,” replied Nixon, "but I 
have not said that the government should loan the 
people money. We have not been discussing the 
question of loaning to the people. We agreed that it 
was the duty of the government to furnish the people 
who produce wealth with the medium of exchange. 
If they cannot get it except by borrowing it, then it 
is clearly the duty of government to loan it to them. 
What security do the National Banks give the govern- 
ment for the notes which it furnishes them?" 

"The best possible security; the bonds or notes of 
the government." 

"And who is security for the bonds or notes? Who, 
and what property is liable for the payment?" 

"Why, the government ; that is the people are liable ; 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


83 


that is — why the bonds make the best possible security 
for the National Bank notes.” 

“Exactly. The bonds are security for the notes, and 
the property of the people is security for the bonds. 
Here, as always, the people who produce wealth are 
the final and best security. Upon them rests the burden 
of payment. They, and they alone, are good security. 
Would they be any less good security if the notes now 
furnished the banks at cost of printing, were furnished 
to the producer instead?” 

‘T see you have cornered me again,” laughed 
Swanson; “and I will own you know more about the 
financial question than 1 have ever thought of; but I 
promise to post myself before I take a seat in Congress, 
if I ever do. I concede all you assert regarding the 
necessities of the producers of wealth for a medium of 
exchange, and the duty of the government to furnish 
it. I don’t see so clearly how it is to be done, except 
through the banks or similar institutions.” 

“That’s because you are a lawyer, Mr. Swanson,” 
exclaimed Miss Mason, laughing and clapping her 
hands. “I have heard of the quibbles of lawyers and 
I think the banks are just that; they are quibbles that 
ought to be got around or just pushed out of the way, 
because they stand between the people and justice. 
And when you get to Congress we shall expect you to 
do it for us.” 

“All alone. Miss Mason? Do you expect me to 
abolish the banks and print the notes and deliver them 
to the wealth producers all alone by myself? If so, I 
am afraid I am doomed to bring disappointment to you, 
and' disgrace upon myself by failure. ” 

Swanson laughed a jolly kind of a laugh ; the girl a 


84 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


joyous, ringing one, and Nixon smiled gravely, but 
pleasantly at the sally. 

And then Nixon rose and took his hat from the centre 
table where he laid it when he entered. 

“I don’t think I will wait longer for your father. 
Miss Jennie,” he said, “but will call again some other 
time. ” 

' He offered his hand to Swanson, and the two shook 
heartily, and with evident feelings of respect and 
esteem. 

“I shall see you often, I hope, Mr. Nixon,” said 
Swanson. “I don’t intend this to be the last lesson I 
am to have from you. If all the labor people were as 
clear in their ideas and arguments as you are, I think 
they would soon have less reason to complain that 
they do not get what they want from Congress.” 

“Our people,” replied Nixon with a twinkle in his 
eye, “like some able gentlemen in some of the pro- 
fessions, have not given as much thought to the subject 
of the National finances as their own interests would 
seem to suggest as wise ; but we are educating and 
agitating, and hope for a better time coming. I shall 
certainly try and see you occasionally during the 
canvass, and will do anything in my power to forward 
your chances at any time. If you should need me, let 
me know. ” 

He bowed politely though familiarly to the girl and 
passed out of the house and into the street. 

“Quite a remarkable man,” observed Swanson, when 
he was out of hearing; “I had no idea there was so 
much to him. He is usually rather reticent, is he not? 
Or is he always inspired when in your presence, to such 
eloquence and clearness of thought?” 

A blush overspreadjthe face of the girl at the com- 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


85 


pliment implied, but she answered readily enough : 

"If you mean is Mr. Nixon always as good a talker 
as he appeared to-day, I answer yes ; provided he talks 
on the same subject. Upon other subjects I think he 
does not talk so well ; probably because he does not 
feel so deeply. Do you know, Mr. Swanson, that the 
laboring men — those who understand these questions, 
or think they do — feel very deeply indeed regarding 
them? They honestly and earnestly believe that with- 
out a change in what they call our economic system, 
the people in America will soon be as poor and 
degraded as the lowest and worst of Europe. They do 
indeed ; they go farther and contend even that our 
civilization is at stake on the issue, and will rise or 
fall with its settlement. But there, I am not going 
to make you think I am like Mr. Nixon, can’t talk of 
anything else. Come out into the garden and let me 
get you a button-hole bouquet to wear to church to- 
night.” 

Swanson responded very promptly and with pleasure. 
He was, in fact, becoming rather anxious to get off of 
a theme in the discussion of which he felt he must 
appear to disadvantage in the eyes of this beautiful 
girl, whom he admired the more, the more he saw of 
her. And when after a quarter of an hour spent in 
examining the flowers they returned to the house, and 
the young man took his leave, it was with permission 
to return later in the evening and escort her to church. 


CHAPTER VIII. 


In which the "fine Italian hand'* of the skilled politician is seen 
manipulating the wires. Mr. Swanson is permitted to remain upon the 
respectable side of the social wash-out. He is nominated for Congress 
by the party of morality^ and makes a speech. Peters leads a pro- 
cession. 

Jennie Mason was very happy that night as she 
walked to church with Horace Swanson, and sat at his 
side in the pew well up toward the front, where the 
ushers had conducted them. 

She tried hard to listen to the sermon but could get 
no clear idea of what it was about, except in a very 
general way, for her thoughts kept wandering in a 
manner which she assured herself, as often as she re- 
called them, was not the way for them to do in church, 
and during sermon time especially. 

But hardly would she have done lecturing them for 
having to be recalled so frequently before they were 
off again upon exploring voyages into the future, or 
floating about in the present, upon some fleecy cloud 
of lamb’s wool whose edges, mayhap, were rose-tinted 
but whose supporting column she neither saw nor 
sought to see. 

She was not in love. 

Oh, no — not yet. 

She was but in the border land — the Land of What- 
ifs? And May-be-so’s! 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


87 


The land where dreams are not, but only the shadow 
of dreams. The land where Love’s spirit awaits its 
body and asks to be transformed from love to lover. 

She knew, though she did not acknowledge it to 
herself that she was pleased with Mr. Swanson’s atten- 
tions, and happy because he was by her side as her 
escort. 

She did not try to suppress the feeling of exultation 
that was in her heart when men and women went out 
of their way to get an opportunity to shake hands 
decorously with him, or watched their chance to ex- 
change nods across several rows of pews. She said to 
heself she exulted at the honor done him as the repre- 
sentative of the cause of the laborers with whom were 
all her sympathies ; and did not deny to herself that 
she was happy^ in being by his side where just a faint 
ray of the honor was reflected on her. 

For in her innocence, she did not dream that it was 
not as the friend of the laborers he was being honored, 
but as the one whom the politicians had determined 
should betray and destroy them. 

Yet, such was the case; and the little social favors 
being accorded him were the result of an edict which 
had gone forth, not openly and to the public, but 
silently and to the trusted few. Gone forth from these 
shrewd and unscrupulous leaders, informing them that 
Swanson was to be endorsed by the Party of Respect- 
ability — with a big R — and of Morality, with a big M ; 
and that he was to be surrounded with such men and 
such influences as, if it did not wean him from all 
sympathy with the laboring men, would at least make 
it impossible for him to accomplish anything for them, 
and so discourage them and in the end disrupt their 
organization. 


88 


congressman SWaNSON 


This, and not a respect for labor or its representative 
was the secret of the little attentions bestowed upon 
Swanson. This was why men who were recognized 
leaders in politics, in society and in the church, went 
out of their way, or reached across the aisle to clasp 
hands with him, and to express in low tones befitting 
the place, their pleasure at meeting him — as if they did 
not meet him on the streets every day. 

This was the initiative. These men were giving to 
society — respectable society — the assurance that Mr. 
Swanson was not to be dropped because he had of late 
been rubbing against greasy mechanics. 

To the initiated it was an intimation that Mr. Swan- 
son had associated himself with the laboring men as 
their leader not wholly of his own motion, or for his 
own pleasure, but rather for the purpose of performing 
a service to society, and possibly, and at least indirectly, 
to the church; certainly to those whose right it is to 
be well-to-do and respectable ; those whose duty it is 
to see that the present satisfactory condition of things 
was not disturbed by the cranky whims of a set of men 
who neither knew what they wanted, nor why they 
wanted it. 

Had not the leaders of the party of Respectability 
fully decided to accept Mr. Swanson as its candidate 
for Congress, these little attentions would not have 
been shown him. 

As the representative of the working men simply, 
he would have been shown to a pew much nearer the 
door and seated in company with working men, had 
any been present, which was seldom the case. 

Swanson felt something of this, though he did not 
know how entirely it was true. Naturally he deemed 
a portion of the courtesies shown him to be due to 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


8q 

the general esteem in which he had always been held 
in the community, and to which had now been added 
the distinction of a nomination to Congress by a portion 
of the citizens of the district. 

He had not yet advanced far enough in the school 
of practical politics to recognize the hands that worked 
the wires so smoothly and so skillfully. He saw lit- 
tle more than the majority of those present saw ; an 
evidence that he was to retain his position and stand- 
ing in society in spite of his alliance with the laboring 
men ; and felt as others felt, that this meant that the 
political party with which he had always affiliated in 
the past was to be his ally and not his opposer in his 
race for Congress. And if a feeling that he was in 
some sense betraying the laboring-men swept across 
his consciousness and gave him a momentary sense of 
shame, it was instantly replaced by one of grateful 
pride at the respect shown him and at the power that 
compelled it. 

He comprehended as little of the sermon as the girl 
at his side, but his thoughts wandered in a different 
direction from hers > although sensible of her presence, 
her face was not in the flash light pictures which his 
fancy saw between the efforts he made to concentrate 
his mind upon the sermon ; but when the services were 
over, and they emerged with the crowd from the church 
door and she put her arm through his for the walk 
home, he felt a little thrill of exquisite pleasure run 
through his being, and when parting at her father’s 
door, he held her hand for just a second, he again 
thrilled with her same bewildering sensation. 

A week later the party of Respectability and high 
Moral character met in convention ; and when it had 


go 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


ended its labors, Horace Swanson was twice a nominee 
for Congress. 

Royalty had accepted the representative put for- 
ward by the canaille. 

The lion and the lamb were prepared to lie down 
together. 

The result was announced amidst cheers. 

The band played, and men threw their hats into the 
air. 

That night the laboring men paraded. 

Peters led them, and carried a transparency with 
the motto “Laboring men to the front!” While in 
different parts of the procession line, other banners 
with various devices of a similar character were seen. 

The organ of the party of Respectabiliy declared 
the following day that there were fully three thousand 
laboring men with torches in the line. It was profuse 
in compliments of the men, whom it denominated the 
“Sturdy sons of toil,” and “Gallant protectors of our 
Home Industries.” 

Swanson was serenaded and made a speech from the 
balcony of the Eagle Hotel, to a crowd that filled the 
street in front, and for a hundred feet either way. 

He thanked the laboring men for the confidence 
reposed in him, and promised never to betray them. 
He complimented them on the display they had made 
in procession, and from their numbers and enthusiasm 
predicted a glorious victory at the polls. 

He said little about principles, for he felt that here 
he trod upon dangerous ground, and lacked confidence 
in his skill to tread it safely. 

But he was mentally stimulated by the surroundings 
and the occasion and the honor done him, and he spoke 
fluently and with force. The mass of men in front 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


9 * 


cheered whenever he closed a well-rounded sentence, 
and broke forth into yells of delighted enthusiasm 
when he sent a barbed shaft in the direction of the 
opposite party. 

When he referred to the action of the convention 
held that day he spoke of it as an endorsement of the 
candidate of the laboring men and by inference drew 
the deduction that it was an endorsement of their 
demands ; although the two platforms contained but 
one plank in common, that upon the tariff ; and the 
convention had not endorsed him as a representative of 
the laboring men, had not even referred to him as 
such, but had simply nominated him outright as if its 
members regarded him solely as a candidate pledged 
to the platform of their party. 

• But the wildest cheering came when, referring to 
the double nomination, he declared that it prestaged 
the good time coming — the time when the lamb of 
labor and the lion of capital should lie down together 
and Mutual Good-Will should lead them as a little 
child. 

Then it was that everybody went wild. The party 
bosses leaned over the balcony and cheered and swung 
their hats, and in front the men with torches held 
them aloft and waved them to and fro in the air and 
yelled themselves hoarse in the effort to express their 
approval of the sentiment — and the man with the bass 
drum hit it several resounding taps. 

The party bosses, together with as many of the lead- 
ing citizens of the place as affiliated with the party, as 
could be accomodated with seats on the balcony were 
present during the parade and the speech ; and when 
Swanson ceased speaking, shook hands and congratu- 
lated him warmly upon what they called his eloquent 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


address. And when it was all over, everybody went 
away happy. 

Everybody except Nixon. 

And why not? 

Were not the lion and the lamb about to lie down 
together? 

And if the lion was happy because he had secretly 
made up his mind to devour the lamb before he arose, 
the lamb was equally happy in his ignorance of the 
lion’s intention. The lamb thought — so far as it 
thought at all — that the lion had really changed its 
nature and had resolved to feed on grass the remainder 
of its days ; or if not that, then at least to divide fairly 
whatever game the two jointly took. 

And Horace Swanson’s sleep was sound and perfect. 
He was weary of body, but his mind was at ease and 
his conscience quiet. All these had been on extra 
duty for days past ; but now the necessity, the good 
of action was over for the present, and a time for rest 
had come. Why should Horace Swanson not sleep 
soundly? 

Sound also and sweet was the sleep of the political 
bosses. They felt their work had been well done, and 
that their purposes were sure of accomplishment. As 
for consciences, they daily offere'd thanks that their 
consciences were thoroughly educated, and understood 
perfectly the necessity in politics of fitting the means 
to the end. Whenever they had any political jobs to 
attend to they so informed their consciences, and their 
consciences went accomodatingly off to bed and to 
sleep until called. 

The sleep of Mr. Peters was heavy at times but not 
perfect. He had drank considerable bad liquor in 
honor of himself and the, so far, successful issue of his 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


93 


schemes, and his sleep was broken at times by bad 
dreams j though when he was awake sufficiently to real- 
ize the fact and so dismiss the disagreeable visions 
which disturbed him, he was happy. 

He had enjoyed the glory of appearing at the head 
of the procession of workingmen as their leader ; and 
not only had all expenses been paid by the bosses of 
the party of Morality, but he had managed to obtain 
an appropriation, for his own special benefit, of a 
sufficient amount to enable him to continue to devote 
his time to politics — that is, to keeping the laboring 
men in line for Swanson and the State ticket of the 
afore mentioned party of Moral Ideas, until election 
day ; which meant continued prominence and no work 
for at least sixty days longer. 

Only Nixon, of all the participants in the day^s 
doings, whom we know, could not sleep, but lay toss- 
ing to and fro upon his bed the whole night through. 
He, whose personal interest seemed least, was alone 
disquieted by the day’s events. 

He alone saw with feelings of discouragement and 
deep regret, impending disaster hang low over the 
caude of the laborers. 


CHAPTER IX. 

Suggests some rea sons why several things might have been different. 

During the weeks that immediately followed his 
second nomination, Swanson had little time for social 
visits, and Miss Mason saw him but seldom. Once or 
twice he called at her father’s cottage, but remained 
only a short time, pleading engagements or the 
necessity of doing some work at his office. 

He was indeed studying to post himself somewhat 
upon the issues involved in the canvass, and in prepar- 
ing to speak upon them, it having been decided by 
those having the management of the campaign that he 
should speak at least twice in each county in his dis- 
trict during the last thirty days before the election. 

That he called upon Miss Mason at all under the 
circumstances was sufficient evidence of interest in 
her, to keep alive any seeds of love for him that might 
have found lodgement in her breast, and even to cause 
them to put forth tender shoots. 

His manner toward her on these occasions was 
always intensely respectful and slightly chivalric ; while 
hers was frank and open, as indeed it was to all. 

Their conversation was always largely of his plans 
and prospects. This was natural, considering the fact 
that her sympathies were with the laboring men, and 
the subject one which formed the chief theme of 
interest between her father and such of their neighbors 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


95 


and friends as occasionally dropped in for an evening’s 
chat. 

Nixon was a frequent caller, but always apparently 
for the purpose of obtaining advice and encourage- 
ment from Mr. Mason regarding the labor movement. 
He was no longer president of the labor organization, 
Peters having been elected to supersede him at the 
regular election recently held ; but he abated no jot 
nor tittle of his interest, but spent most of his even- 
ings, all of them in fact, in efforts to make more per- 
fect the organization of the working men, and in 
educating them upon economic questions. 

Miss Mason respected Mr. Nixon very highly. She 
thought him a very good and a very generous man. 
She knew him to be very earnest and conscientious ; 
and too, she knew that before men and women of ^ his 
own class he could make a better speech upon the 
labor question than any other among the labor leaders ; 
for she had occasionally attended their meetings and 
had heard most or all of their ablest speakers. And 
in her talks with Mr. Swanson, she always referred 
to Mr. Nixon as one who knew all about these matters, 
bringing him in and quoting his sayings in a way that 
once or twice rather grated upon that gentleman’s 
feelings for a second. 

He began to recognize, in a degree which she could 
not, the fact that his own course, past and future, had 
not been and was not likely to be in line with Nixon’s 
ideas, and so was not too well pleased to have Nixon 
and Nixon’s opinions so frequently held up for his 
observation and endorsement. 

On her part Miss Mason, not doubting that he felt 
the same unselfish desire as herself to serve the cause 
of the laborers, supposed she was doing the greatest 


96 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


possible favor in referring him to the putest and 
safest source of information known to her. 

And he had said to her banteringly : 

"I am not certain I shall not become envious of Mr. 
Nixon since you seem to think him so very wise. 
Don’t you really believe now that I ought to resign 
the nomination in his favor, and let him go to Congress 
instead of me?" 

And she — never perceiving his irritation — had re- 
plied honestly : 

"No, indeed ! Mr. Nixon understands these questions 
better than you, because he is a workingman himself, 
and has spent all his leisure time for two or three 
years, studying them. But he could never impress 
people with their importance as you will be able to- 
do when you have studied them too, as of course you 
will do when you get to Congress and have to intro- 
duce bills, and speak and urge their passage. I should 
so like to hear you make a speech before all the other 
congressmen, some of whom have helped to pass such 
unjust laws. I am sure you will make them ashamed 
of what they have done, and anxious to undo it." 

This compliment was at once so frankly and naively 
expressed, that, although recalling to mind some things 
he had learned since his nomination, of the intentions 
of the political bosses, and his present relation to them, 
he felt that he was poorly entitled to it, it yet served 
to allay the ruffled feelings which Miss Mason’s refer- 
ences to Nixon had provoked, and he made some 
laughing reply to the effect that he hoped she might 
not be disappointed in regard to the influence he 
should wield in case he was so fortuntae as to be 
elected. And after the rather unnecessary ceremony 
of taking her hand for an instant, left the cottage. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


97 


Approaching his office, he saw some one sitting on 
the steps evidently waiting his coming. 

At first he thought it was Peters. That personage 
had been very persistent in his friendship for Swanson 
ever since their introduction to each other, and 
nearly every day since Swanson’s nomination he had 
dropped into the latter’s office ; sometimes remaining 
for an hour or more, much to Swanson’s discomfort. 

For he had learned to estimate Peters at something 
near his true value. He saw him a man of little ability 
and less moral character; and almost entirely lacking 
in those finer sensibilities that mark the distinction 
between the gentleman and the loafer. 

The air of mystery with which Peters constantly 
approached him under pretense of imparting informa- 
tion that was of no value, or giving advice that was 
worthless if not insulting to one who felt he still had 
use for his integrity of character, had done more to 
wean Swanson’s sympathies from the laboring men 
than all that the combined influence of the political 
bosses had accomplished. 

Here was this man whom he saw to be without the 
first instincts of true nobility, a man of low morals, 
of offensive manners, of weak sympathies, intense and 
grasping selfishness, yet the formally accredited repre- 
sentative of the organized laboring men of the district. 

A man whose every thought was of himself; who 
worked and schemed to advance his own interests 
utterly regardless of those of the men he professed to 
represent ; and ready, eager, to enter into any arrange- 
ment that promised a reward to himself, with the men 
to whose influence — as a class — the legislation that the 
laborers complained of was due. 

And more than this, he had been as free in his 
7 


98 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


demands for money as he had been in the giving of 
advice, and upon one plea or another, had really 
drawn a considerable sum from Swansongs not too 
plethoric pocket-book. 

These sums he had represented as necessary to meet 
certain supposed expenses growing out of Swanson’s 
relations to the labor organization ; but of late, Swanson 
had had good reason to suspect that instead of using 
the money in the legitimate work of organization and 
education for which he had solicited it, he had spent 
it on his own appetites and passions. 

Is it any wonder then that Swanson began to look 
upon the laboring men as unfitted to shape the politi- 
cal issues of the campaign, or to control the. destinies 
of the nation? 

Had he known the laboring men more intimately, 
known their condition and surroundings and the cause 
for them, he had judged them far differently. 

For why should he expect that men who are com- 
pelled to labor from early morn until the setting of 
the sun, and often far beyond it, and who from this 
fact alone, have little time and less inclination to study 
or think upon subjects outside of their daily round of 
toil — why, I ask, should Mr. Swanson have expected 
these men to possess a greater knowledge, or to show 
a more intelligent comprehension of economic questions 
than he himself possessed or could show ; he, who had 
all the advantages of a liberal education, and leisure 
to pursue whatever line of thought or investigation he 
chose? 

Or if the fund of knowledge possessed by Mr. Nixon 
and that gentleman’s clear understanding of these ques- 
tions, impressed a man like himself as indicating a 
person of more than ordinary ability and insight, why 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


99 


should Mr. Swanson have been surprised that men of 
less information than himself should receive similar 
impressions regarding such a man as Mr. Peters, who 
certainly did possess some superficial knowledge of 
the question, and with it sufficient command of lan- 
guage and self-confidence to talk upon it in public, 
or before the organization to which they belonged? 

Conscious of their own ignorance, impressed by the 
iterated and re-iterated assertions of the so-called 
statesmen of both political parties, that economic 
questions were too abstruse and deep for the compre- 
hension of the common people, the laboring men had 
followed the leaders of their respective parties until a 
constantly falling scale of wages had brought them to 
the verge of revolt ; which, with their ignorance of 
the real source of their troubles means the point where 
assumed superior knowledge and bitter denunciation 
give temporary leadership, and make the demagogue 
the architect of history. 

The working men really knew very little about Peters. 
He had not lived long among them — at least, had 
not grown up in their midst — but had “struck” the town 
in search of a job about two years previous ; had 
obtained a situation in one of the factories, and being 
a fair mechanic, had held his position as others had 
done . He had seemed a good enough fellow — though 
perhaps a little conceited — before they formed their 
organization, but when organization was talked of, 
his fine opinion of himself coupled with his readiness 
to talk from the rostrum had in some sense appeared 
as evidences of ability, real ability : and had quickly 
raised him to the position of leadership, which he now 
held. 

To those who felt themselves totally and almost 


lOO 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


hopelessly ignorant upon economic questions, Peters^ 
superficial knowledge passed for deep reasoning ; and 
the assurance which enabled him to exhibit this sup- 
posed knowledge in public appeared to them good 
reason for putting him forward as their representative 
and spokesman. In reality, however, his recent elec- 
tion over Nixon to the highest place in their organiza- 
tion was due much more to scheming on the part of 
Mr. Peters than to any feeling among the members 
that he was a better or even so good a man as Mr. 
Nixon. 

I say, had Horace Swanson known all this, or had 
he been capable from his position and surroundings 
of understanding it, he would have felt his sympathies 
for the laboring people increased instead of diminished 
by the fact of Peter’s posing as their representative. 
But he did not know and could not understand, and 
as a consequence, his sympathies were beginning to 
fade, and when he saw one he imagined to be Peters 
waiting for him upon his office steps he half muttered 
a curse which included, with the man who claimed to 
represent them, those whom he claimed to represent. 

As he came nearer, however, near enough to see with 
some distinctness even in the semi-darkness of a moon- 
lit evening, he perceived that he was mistaken in 
thinking the one in waiting to be Peters, and felt a 
decided sense of relief. 

An instant later he held out his hand to the person 
who rose from the steps at his approach and said cor- 
dially and kindly : 

"Hello, Doctor, is that you? I am glad to see you. 
Where have you been all this time?" And as he in- 
serted the key in the lock and threw open the door. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


lOI 


"Come in, you must stay with me to-night.” Which 
was exactly what Doctor had come intending to do. 

Since Swanson’s nomination by the party of Morality 
with a big M, Doctor had become oppressed with a 
desire to hear once more, and from his own lips, the 
assurance that this man whom he loved and trusted, 
would be true to the cause of the oppressed and suffer- 
ing workingmen and their families ; and he had come 
hoping to hear Swanson’s own words on the subject. 

He knew that he himself would have neither the 
language nor the courage to put the question direct to 
his friend, but had come hoping there would drop from 
his lips some expression that would prove how much 
he did him injustice in wishing for verbal evidence of 
his faithfulness to the confidence reposed in him. 


CHAPTER X. 


The ball opens, and the opposition candidate makes it warm for our 
friend Swanson. Some little games that were worked in the hack 
townships. Mr. Har diman puts in a claim on behalf of the Hoe and 
Subsoiler; aud Mr. Swanson starts on a hasty trip to IVashington. 

And now the ball is fairly opened. The opposition 
party has renominated the present member of Congress, 
adopted a platform differing but little from that of the 
party which has nominated Swanson, thrown a sop in 
the way of a labor plank to the working men and 
declared they and not the other fellows are, and always 
have been the true friends of the wealth producers. 

The candidates of both parties throughout the state 
from county coroner up to governor of the common- 
wealth have been assessed to defray the expenses of 
the canvass. The corporations upon one side and the 
saloons upon the other have contributed their quoto of 
the campaign fund. The party organs have warmed 
up to their work of systematically coating the eyes of 
the voters with the slime of prejudice ; the flood-gates 
of calumny and falsehood are opened, and honor, repu- 
tation, truth, the rights of men and the wrongs of 
women are forgotten, denied, tramped on, in the mad 
scramble for office. 

Swanson is speaking every day and often twice a 

day, trying to cover the ground after his opponent, 

102 


congressman' SWANSON 103 

who is an old campaigner, and is making it warm for 
his less experienced competitor. 

Meetings in court-houses and in the open air in the 
day time, and in country school houses at night, is the 
order of the campaign ; and frequently after speaking 
to a large crowd in some county-seat town in the after- 
noon, Swanson is whisked off to a back township* for 
a talk at night, where there is a little disaffection 
being manifested, or where the voters are not suffi- 
ciently impresed with the magnitude of the issues 
involved in the canvas to turn out to the general 
rallies. 

Then there are the German settlements in the country 
and the Polish colonies in the larger towns and cities 
that have to be looked to, and to whom it will not do 
to present the claims of the candidates in the same 
light as in other communities. 

‘T’ve got something out here in the wagon that will 
make the rest of my speech. It made me tired talking 
to that temperance crowd up at the county-seat this 
afternoon, trying to convince them that I was an out 
and out prohibitionist, and so I brought this along to 
talk for me to-night," is the way one of the candidates 
put it to a crowd of Germans congregated in a little 
school-house in one of the back townships, and point- 
ing to a keg of beer that two men were at that instant 
bringing* into the building. 

And when the uproarious cheers that greeted this 
announcement, and the one that followed it in greeting 
the keg itself had subsided enough for the speaker to 
make himself heard, he added : 

'T reckon you men can keep this little speech from 
being reported in the papers. We don't want to hurt 
the feelings of our prohibition friends by ^a too open 


104 CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 

assertion of our rights — at least not until after election." 

And while the tumult of cheers, stamping of feet 
and clapping of hands was at its highest, this states- 
man came out from behind the little table which 
acted as a desk for the teacher during the school hours 
and taking up one of a dozen or more tin cups that 
had been brought with the keg, filled it with beer, and 
as the others were filled and passed to hands out- 
stretched to grasp them, lifted it on high and announced 
the toast : 

"Here’s luck, and hoping we beat ’em bad at the 
polls. ” 

The canvass was at its hottest, and election day was 
but two weeks off, when Mr. Swanson, who was in one 
of the most distant counties of his district, received' a 
note telling him it was imperatively necessary that he 
should return home at once for counsel with friends, 
and intimating that there was very serious trouble 
brewing from some quarter, though what the nature 
of it was, was not stated in the note that was handed 
him by a man sent expressly to carry it and see that 
it reached its destination with speed and certainty. 

The note informed him that a good speaker had been 
sent to fill his appointments until he could return to 
them himself ; and that he must come to headquarters, 
which were in his own town of Smithville, by first 
train without fail. 

Anxious and fearful as well as curious to know what 
could possibly have arisen to cause such immediate 
and pressing necessity for his presence there at this 
particular moment, he started at once to obey the 
summons, taking a train that would bring him there 
about nine o’clock in the evening. 

He knew, of course, something affecting the canvass 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


105 


and involving his own interests as a candidate had 
unexpectedly arisen, and tried to think what it could 
possibly be, but could reach no satisfactory conclusion. 

What occured to him as most probable was some 
defection of the organized laboring men ; for while he 
had striven the best he could to hold their confidence, 
and even permitted his name to be placed upon the 
rolls of one of their clubs as a member, and had been 
with them on two or three occasions at their regular 
Saturday night meetings, he was yet aware that his 
opponent had done about the same thing at his home 
in another part of the district, and that it was not yet 
certain who would receive the larger portion of the 
labor vote. 

He thought of Peters, and wondered if he had sold 
out to the opposite party, and was trying to deliver the 
labor vote to it. He felt that Peters was fully capable 
of such treachery if the inducement of a sufficient 
personal reward were offered him ; and he more than 
half suspected that this was the source of the trouble. 

Then he thought of Nixon and wondered if it were 
possible that his course was so little satisfactory to 
him that he had decided not to support him farther, 
and had advised the laboring men not to vote for him. 
Thinking of this, he could not help realizing that he 
had not come up to Nixon’s standard of what a working- 
man’s candidate should be, but at the same time he 
felt Nixon was too honorabe to desert him under the 
circumstances, with the full knowledge that no better 
representative of their order was before them for their 
suffrages ; and he dismissed from his mind all thought 
of Nixon’s responsibility for the trouble that had 


arisen. 


io6 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


Whatever it was, he was quite sure that Nixon was 
not the cause of it. 

“Anyway, there is no use worrying nor trying to 
imagine what it is,” he said mentally; “I’ll find out 
when I get there. I don’t believe it can be anything 
very serious ; don’t see how it can be. ” 

Nevertheless, he did worry and did strive to divine 
what the trouble was, but it was with no feeling that 
he had done so,' that he stepped off the cars at his own 
town of Smithville. 

The minute his foot touched the platform his hand 
was grasped by one of his political friends and backers 
of the party of Respectability and Morals, who drew 
him quickly but quietly aside toward a close carriage 
that stood in waiting. 

“Come, this way, Swanson ; no — don’t wait ; those 
fellows have not recognized you, time enough to shake 
with them later. Here, give me your gripsack ; there, 
jump in, I want to talk with you privately. Old Hardi- 
man has sprung a trap on us and if we don’t get out 
of it pretty quick you are gone up sure, so far as going 
to Congress this trip, is concerned. ” 

“Sprung a trap on us? Hardiman ; what, how, 
where has Hardiman got any grip on us? I don’t un- 
derstand. ” 

“No ; I suppose not. That is because you are a little 
green in politics, and because you don’t know Hardi- 
man. The old cuss has just been laying in wait for 
us ever since you were nominated. He don’t care a 
snap of his finger who is elected only so far as he can 
use the man that is ; he has acted with the opposition 
about as often as with us in the past, and always for 
some special benefit to himself. In fact he tried to 
play a good deal the same game on them two years 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


107 


ago that he is playing on us now ; not the same, you 
understand, but one very much like it ; but they were 
strong enough then to defy him, and besides did not 
have just the right kind of influence to accomplish 
what he asked, and so he came over to us and voted 
his men for our ticket from top to bottom. That 
helped us some, but not enough to put our candidate 
through in this district. Now, however, things have 
changed somewhat j wd have gained a little in. some 
communities by working the temperance racket among 
the church folks ; and beside, Hardiman now employs 
nearly three times as many men as he did then ; and 
these, together with what we have gained in other 
ways, and with what votes of unemployed men the 
labor organization can give you — if we can hold them 
— will pull you through slick as grease. But we have 
got to have the votes of Hardiman^s men or we are 
gone up, and the old villain knows it and has set his 
stakes accordingly ; and nothing will ever induce him 
to pull ’em up except compliance with his demands. ” 

“Well, what is it he wants?” asked Swanson, a good 
deal mystified by what his companion had told him. 

“Well, you see, Hardiman publishes a paper, “The 
Hoe and Subsoiler, ” you know. Well, it’s nothing in 
the world but an advertising sheet for his own goods 
and he ought to pay circular postage, or one cent an 
ounce, for sending it through the mails ; but he denies 
that it is an advertising sheet and declares it is an 
agricultural paper simply and entitled to go through 
the mails at pound rates. He got it started that way 
at first, and by taking subscribers at a trifling price 
and offering big premiums to g<=^^ters up of clubs, and 
by adding long lists of names of farmers who never 
did subscribe, but who were willing enough, I suppose, 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


io8 

to take the paper if it cost them nothing, in one way 
and another, he drummed up a list of about fifty 
thousand subscribers ; but then somebody, I suppose 
some rival manufacturer, put the Post-office department 
on to the facts in the case and it made a ruling com- 
pelling him to pay circular postage, which means one 
cent for each copy of “The Hoe and Subsoiler” sent 
through the mails. 

“Naturally this hurts. One cent per copy on fifty 
thousand copies is five hundred dollars a month ; and 
five hundred dollars a month is six thousand dollars a 
year, which as compared with two cents per pound, 
for a little sheet like the Hoe and Subsoiler, means a 
difference of about five thousand, five hundred dollars 
a year. 

“If he stops sending out the paper it means a falling 
off in his business, or the paying to other papers a 
good round sum for advertising in them, and he 
naturally, I reckon, kicks against anything that inter- 
feres with his profits!” 

‘Well, what does he want of us? He don’t expect 
us to pay his postage bills does he?” 

“Not exactly. He don’t want to pay any postage bills. 
What he demands of us — of you — is that you get the 
ruling of the Post Office department changed, and allow 
him to send his paper through the mails at pound rates 
as he did when he first started it. He swears that if 
this is not done he will vote every one of his five hun- 
dred men solidly against you and against our whole 
state ticket.” 

“Wants me to change the ruling of the Department,” 
gasped Swanson. “How can I change the ruling of a 
department of the government? Is the man crazy?” 

“No, I reckon not,” replied his companion. “I reckon 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


109 

the old fellow knows what he’s about, as well as any man 
in the country. You see he is working for Hardiman; 
and when he works for himself he generally looks things 
over pretty carefully and knows what he wants, and 
about what are his chances of getting it before he puts 
in his bill.” 

<<But what can we do? I don’t see that we can do 
anything. It looks to me as though this was simply an 
excuse for going over to the opposition and taking his 
crowd of workmen with him.” 

have no doubt he will do that if we don’t get him 
what he wants; and we have got to do it. That is why 
we sent for you. You have got to go to Washington and 
see the assistant Postmaster and get him to reverse his 
ruling, so Hardiman’s paper can go through the mails at 
pound rates. You can do it, you have to do it or lose 
tlie race. Our candidate for Governor will fnrnish you 
with a letter of introduction to the right man at Wash- 
ington — who is a personal and political friend of his — 
and you can fix things up satisfactorily. We have 
already sent a man we can trust to the candidate for 
Governor to put him onto the game -and get the letter 
you will need; and he will meet you at Crosstown where 
you will change cars for Washington at about five o’clock 
in the morning; and in thirty-six hours you will be in 
the Capitol, and forty-eight hours later will be at home 
again to take up your canvass.” 

<^Do you mean I am to start to-night?” 

‘‘On the midnight train. There is not an hour to lose. 
Brown whom we sent to fill your appointments will keep 
the field for you until you get back. He is a good speaker 
and knows how to work things. I don’t think you will 
lose much by your absence; but anj-way, go you must; 
for if this thing isn’t fixed up to suit Hardiman he will 


no 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


put all our fat in the fire in this district sure, and may 
even lose us the state.” 

“But why don’t the Governor go; our candidate I 
mean? His influence will certainly outweigh mine at 
Washington; especially as you say the man we have to 
deal with is a personal friend of his?” 

‘ ‘The Governor can’t leave, ” returned the other. “His 
absence from the canvass at this time, and his presence 
in Washington would be noticed and commented on 
more than yours will be, and might even put stories 
afloat that we don’t want to be bothered with at this 
stage of the game. Besides the Governor is an old 
politician and up to all the tricks of the opposition, and 
we need him to direct things and head off the other fel- 
lows; for the Lord or the devil only knows what they 
will be up to, or what trap they will spring on us at the 
last moment of the campaign.” 

This conversation had taken place between the two 
men while the carriage was driven slowly through the 
town, or from the depot which was on one side of the 
town to near the opposite side of the business centre, 
the driver evidently acting under instructions to go 
slowly; thus giving time for the friend who had met 
Swanson to acquaint him with the situation. 

This man had been sent as the one most likely to 
influence Swanson in the manner desired by those who 
held the management and secrets of the campaign, and 
who were now waiting his arrival at the office of one of 
their number, which being situated in a portion of the 
town not much frequented at this hour had been selected 
as the best place for the meeting, which it was desired 
should attract as little attention from outsiders as 
possible, 

•In fact it was considered advisable to prevent, if it could 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


III 


be done, any knowledge of Swanson’s being in town at 
this time, and of his hurried trip to Washington, which 
it had been decided he must take; hence the precaution 
of having him come on a train that arrived after business 
hours, the close carriage and the preparation to get him 
off on another train at midnight. 

As Swanson and his companion approached and 
knocked at the room in which were assembled these 
half dozen men, the door was opened cautiously for a 
few inches and a face peered out at them for a brief 
space, and then, becoming certain of the identity of those 
on the outside, the door was swung back and they were 
bidden to enter. 

As they did so, those within, who had been sitting 
about a table on which were various scraps and sheets 
of paper covered over with scrawls and columns of 
figures, rose to their feet and greeted Swanson in turn, 
familiarly and with cordiality; complimenting him on the 
gallant fight he was making, and, generally, causing him 
to feel that he was one of them, while at the same time 
conveying the impression that they were the able direct- 
ors of a work of immense importance to somebody — 
presumably to the people, since as polititians they 
claimed — in public at least — to seek only the public 
good. 

And in the presence and company of these men Swan- 
son’s spirits rose. He had felt fearfully depressed but a 
few moments before while listening to the information 
and instructions given him by his friend while in the 
carriage, but these men did not seem depressed or dis- 
couraged; on the contrary, there was an air of confidence 
and even of jollity upon them which at once raised 
Swanson’s spirits and gave him new life and courage. 

Observing that all the others were smoking he felt in 


II2 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


his own pocket for a cigar, and finding none accepted 
one of those offered him by two or three of the gentle- 
men at once, lit it, seated himself in a chair, elevated 
his feet to the table, and appeared — as he really felt 
himself to be — at home and in congenial company. 

And when, after a little desultory conversation and a 
few jokes had passed about, the subject of Hardiman’s 
demands, and the necessity of a trip to Washington was 
introduced, he assented promptly and cheerfully to the 
proposition already made known to him, and even got 
off a joke at his own expense in connection with the 
canvass and his flying trip to the Capital, which pro- 
voked the laughter of the others and induced the feeling 
among them that Swanson was true grit and that they 
could not have found a better man for their candidate if 
they had spent the entire season trying. 

The fact was, that Swanson, generous by nature but 
easy in disposition, and readily susceptable to the in- 
fluence of others, provided that influence appealed to 
his love of good fellowship and pleasant surroundings, 
felt a bond of sympathy with these men of strong will 
who admitted him into their confidence upon an equality, 
and seemed to regard him as entitled — with them — to 
succeed in his ambitions in life; and if it had occurred 
to him to contrast them with Peters or even with Nixon, 
representatives of the laboring men, he would have in- 
stinctively turned from those to these for companionship 
and association. ^ 

And ne sat and smoked, and chatted with them of the 
campaign in the state and of his own prospects, and 
looked over the figures of the probable vote which they 
had made, based upon such advices as could be obtained, 
and did not contradict if he did not express approval 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


113 

when one of their number commenting on the demands 
made by Hardiman remarked: 

‘‘Well I don’t know as that is any more than his share 
of the spoils anyway. You can’t expect men like him to 
work in politics for nothing, and he can’t well leave his 
business to hold office.” 

“And besides that” was added, “he has promised to 
contribute five hundred dollars to the campaign fund if 
we do what he wants, and we need the money just about 
now pretty bad.” 

As midnight approached Swanson shook hands all 
around with those present, promised to telegraph from 
Washington under the initials H. S. the success of his 
mission, and then in company with his friend who had 
met him on his arrival, walked to the depot to take the 
train that was to bear him on his mission. 

Once out of the presence of these gentlemen and . 
alone with a single person upon the quiet streets, his 
thoughts took a different coloring again; and after walk- 
ing a block or more in silence he said to his companion: 

“How am I expected to approach our party upon the 
subject? I own to being rather at a loss to know how I 
am to proceed. This seems to me to be a very delicate 
business, to say the least of it.” 

“Oh you will get on all right” replied the other. “The 
Governor’s letter will open the way if it does not do the 
whole business, which it probably will. All you’ll have 
to do in any event is to make it clear to him that a fail- 
ure to act will certainly lose us the District, and may 
lose us the state and so result in losing the Presidential 
election two years from now. You might add some 
suggestion of a return of favors if needed at any future 
time; but the Governor will no doubt do that in a way 
to be satisfactory to the party you go to see. However, 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


1 14 

anything you think well to throw in won’t do any harm, 
and may do good. As a member of Congress you will 
have influence in many quarters, and influence is what 
counts in Washington. 

Ten minutes later Mr. Swanson was removing his 
outer garments preparatory to crawling into his bunk in 
a sleeping-car, hoping to get a few hours of needed 
rest before he would be called to ^change cars at Cross- 
town, where the messenger was to meet him with the 
letter from the candidate for governor of a state to an 
officer of the federal government asking him to violate 
the law in the interest of his party. 


CHAPTER XL 

Mr, Hardiman having forgotten to close the door of his private office. 
Miss Jennie Mason overhears things not intended for her ears — and 
imparts them to others. Mr. Nixon starts out to find Mr. Swanson 
and inform him of what is up. 

The little plan which Mr. Hardiman had fixed up, by 
which he was to save several thousand dollars annually 
in postage on ^‘The Hoe and Subsoiler was first made 
known to two or three of the local bosses of the party 
whom he had invited into his office for that purpose. 

In the somewhat animated conversation that followed 
the announcement of his determination to vote his entire 
force of five hundred men against Swanson and the state 
ticket, if his demand were not complied with, no one 
observed that the door between the outer and inner 
offices was not closely shut, or remembered that Miss 
Jennie Mason — ^‘Old Hardiman’s pretty secretary^’ — was 
at her desk and could not avoid hearing what passed be- 
tween those within. 

When first aware that she could overhear what was 
being said, she strove not to listen or give attention to 
it; but as the voices grew more earnest and the name of 
Horace Swanson reached her ear she involuntarily ceased 
her work and listened. 

At first she could not understand the meaning of what 
was being said farther than that Mr. Swanson’s election 
was jeopardized from some cause. But as the discus- 
sion continued and the protests of the party leaders be- 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


ii6 

came more decided Mr. Hardiman repeated his demands 
in tones that clearly reached her. His language, too, 
was such as to leave no doubt of his intention to enforce 
his demands; and evidently convinced his companions 
that farther opposition was useless; and compliance the 
only way to escape the defeat which would certainly 
result from a change of five or six hundred votes from 
their own ticket to that of the opposition. 

Then followed a discussion how best to go to work to 
secure the reversal of the ruling of the department; and 
though now the voices dropped to a somewhat lower key 
the listener heard enough to make out that if Mr. 
Swanson refused to go to Washington at once and do 
something, she did not clearly understand what, his 
defeat at the polls was a certainty; and she half arose 
from her seat with the intention of going at once to find 
him, tell him of the danger that threatened his prospects 
and urge him to exert his every energy to accomplish 
the thing required of him. 

Just what was the nature of the service demanded she 
did not understand, and did not stop to consider. The 
interest she felt in him and in the cause she regarded 
him as representing, made her feel deeply the danger 
that threatened and the necessity of prompt and effectual 
action; and she did not stop to question whether any 
principle of right or wrong was involved in the matter. 

But even as she would have arisen to go and warn him 
of the danger came a recognition of the fact that she did 
not know where he was to be found, but only that he 
was away somewhere making speeches; and she sank 
back in her seat with a feeling that she could do nothing; 
and the tears welled up to her eyes at the thought of 
the situation and her own inability to be of service. 

Then some of those within noticed that the door be- 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


1 17 

tween the two offices was ajar and came and closed 
after first peeping in to see who was in the outer room. 
Seeing no one but a young girl sitting at her desk with 
bowed head as if at work, he closed the door without 
comment, and thereafter nothing was distinguishable by 
the one occupant of the outer office except an occasional 
indistinct murmur of voices from the inner room. 

And Jennie Mason sat at her desk and made an effort 
to resume her work; trying to think what she should do 
with the information she had thus surreptitiously gained. 

She could not warn Mr. Swanson; should she tell her 
father what she knew ? 

Ought she not to hunt up Mr. Nixon and inform him, 
and get him to find Mr. Swanson ? 

She decided that she would do this; or at least she 
would tell her father, and then if he thought best, she 
would find Mr. Nixon and tell him. And she wondered 
whether she dared leave at once and without permission 
from her employer to go upon this mission. Before she 
could decide, the conference in the private office broke 
up, and the parties to it — except Mr. Hardiman — passed 
through the room where she was with no more than a 
glance in her direction, and departed by the street 
entrance. 

Then a moment later Mr. Hardiman himself appeared 
and gave her some orders regarding the work she was 
doing; keeping his eyes upon her, while addressing her, 
in a way that made her feel uneasy for fear he sus- 
pected her of having overheard what had passed between 
himself and those who had just left, and was seeking to 
judge of what she intended doing with the information 
she had thus gained. This prevented her from daring 
to ask leave of absence for the remainder of the after- 


noon. 


1I8 congressman SWANSON 

* And so she sat and worked away with a nervous 
energy, that if it enabled her to accomplish an unusual 
amount of work in a short time, did not fail of observa- 
tion by the keen eyes of her employer, who took his seat 
and remained in it at a desk only a few feet away, 
apparently absorbed in looking over his correspond- 
ence; but not in fact so much so as not to be observant 
of the actions and manners of his pretty secretary, his 
treatment of whom had always been respectful, though 
sometimes colored with a slight effort at familiarity, 
which had for the moment disquieted its recipient. 

Slowly the remaining hours of the afternoon wore 
away; and with the first stroke of the clock that announced 
the time of her release from work for the day. Miss 
Mason arose, hurriedly arranged her papers in some- 
thing like order, and taking up her sun-hat and the light 
wrap she sometimes needed on her way home, hastened 
to leave the office and walked rapidly away. In her 
eagerness to reach home she made little short cuts 
across corners in passing from one side of the street to 
the other, and when arrived at the gate she ran up the 
walk and up the steps into the house and began looking 
from room to room for her father whom she finally dis- 
covered sitting under the grape arbor in the garden 
and with him Mr. Nixon. 

‘^Oh, Mr. Nixon,” she exclaimed, coming hurriedly 
into their presence, am so glad you are here. You 
must go and find Mr. Swanson at once and tell him 
they are going to do something to try and beat him; 
and if he don’t go to Washington instantly and get some- 
thing done that Mr. Hardiman wants done he will make 
all the men in his shops vote against him.” 

• ‘‘That is exactly in keeping with Mr. Hardiman^s 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON ttg 

cliarcLCter/’ remarked Mr. Mason, ^‘But how came you 
to know about it; daughter?’^ 

overheard Mr. Hardiman tell some gentlemen whd 
came .to his private office this afternoon. They forgot 
to close the door between the two rooms and I could 
not help but overhear; though at first I tried not to do 
so.” 

Jennie blushed slightly as she admitted to having 
gained her information thus surreptitiously, and glanced 
from her father to Mr. Nixon as if to ask them for assur» 
ance of having acted honorably. 

‘T don’t see how you could avoid hearing, nor why, 
really, you should have sought to do so when you had 
discovered the character of the conversation,” returned 
Mr. Nixon. ‘Tf these men were conspiring to do a 
wrong to Mr. Swanson or the working-men, I think 
it was clearly your duty to listen, that if possible, we 
may prevent its accomplishment. But did you learn 
Vhat it is they want Mr. Swanson to do?” 

The girl thanked him with her eyes for having reas- 
suied her of not acting dishonorably as she answered: 

“No; at least I don’t think I understand it very well. 
From what I heard I gathered that Mr. Hardiman 
wants to get his paper through the mails at less cost 
than he is now doing; something about postage I think; 
I know he said something like that. And he said Mr. 
Swanson or somebody had got to get the authorities at 
Washington to let him do as he wanted or he would vote 
all his employes against the whole state ticket. The 
other men were trying to pursuade him not to do it; but 
he”declared he would, and I believe he will; and I think 
Mr. Nixon ought to find Mr. Swanson and tell him about 
it and urge him to do as Mr. Hardiman wishes; don’t 
you, papa?” 


120 


congressman SWANSON 


“I should know better about that, if I knew positively 
what it is Mr. Hardiman wants him to do, ’’replied Mr. 
Mason. I know enough of Mr. Hardiman to believe 
him capable of fulfilling his threat about voting his men; 
and I do not doubt he will compel them to vote as he 
wishes, whichever ticket that may be. Times are getting 
harder every day; a good many manufacturers through- 
out the country are shutting down, and the men will 
vote any ticket Hardiman may order them to rather than 
lose their jobs; and our organization is not strong 
enough to prevent it. I wish it were, but it isn’t.” 

“ I am perfectly willing to go and find Mr. Swanson — 
if it is thought best — and tell him as nearly as I can 
what’s up,” said Nixon. ‘‘I can find out by the Daily 
Chronicle where he is speaking to-day and where he will 
be to-morrow.” 

‘‘And you will urge him to try and do what Mr. 
Hardiman demands wont you?” said Miss Mason 
earnestly. “He will be defeated if you do not?” 

“I don’t wish to see Mr. Swanson defeated,” returned 
Nixon, a little slowly and very soberly, “and shall be 
glad to be of any assistance in promoting his election. 
I wish we knew a little more certainly what it is Hardi- 
man demands. We should know better then how to 
act.” 

“Do you suppose Mr. Hardiman would tell you if you 
went to him?” suggested Jennie. 

Nixon shook his head in a manner evincing doubt. 

“I think,” he said, “that it is something he does not 
wish many people to know. From what you say, he 
was demanding that Swanson or some one else, some of 
the candidates on the state ticket, go to Washington and 
get some officer of the government to do, or promise to 
do something for him, and he made threats in case it 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 121 

was not done. He would not have done that if it were 
not something he feared to let any but the few leaders 
know. I will go and ask him, however, if you wish, but 
I doubt if it would do any good. And I think. Miss 
Jennie, that if I were to do so he would guess at once 
where I got what information I have, which would not 
be pleasant for you; as, while you have done nothing 
you ought not to have done, he might think you had, 
and make it difficult for you to remain in his employ.” 

I would rather lose my place than see Mr. Swanson 
defeated,” replied the girl with spirit. Then she added a 
little hurriedly, “you know Mr. Swanson is the repre- 
sentative of the laboring men and it is our duty to help 
elect him.” 

“You would not wish us to advise Mr. Swanson to do 
a dishonorable thing to secure his election, would you, 
my daughter? From all you have told us, and from 
what I know of Mr. Hardiman, I am inclined to think he 
wants Mr. Swansou to use his influence with somebody 
at Washington, some officer of the government, to get 
something done for him that is not strictly honest. I 
have heard of something similar that occurred two years 
ago; or rather it was said that the reason Hardiman 
voted his men as he did, was, that the other side refused 
or failed to get some favor for him from some official, I 
think it was a Judge, whom he tried to get to promise 
to decide a suit he had in court, in his favor. Now if 
this thing he wants of Mr. Swanson is anything like that, 
of course Mr. Swanson cannot agree to it; and if he were 
to, he would not be worthy of our support nor of that of 
any other honest man.” 

The girl stood perfectly quiet while her father was 
speaking; but as he went on, the color rose to her neck 
and then to her cheeks in a flood of crimson, and she 


122 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


seemed scarcely able to raise her eyes from the ground 
when he had ceased. 

So absorbing had been her interest in the matter, and 
so anxious was she to do something to prevent the im- 
pending danger to Mr. Swanson and those whom she 
really felt were to be greatly benefited by his election, 
that she had not for one moment considered the character 
of the demand made by Mr. Hardiman except in relation 
to its effect upon the election. 

Now, however, she saw that what her father said was 
— in all probability — true. Indeed she felt sure that it 
was; and that she had been urging Mr. Nixon, whom 
she knew to be the soul of honor, to find Mr. Swanson 
and advise him to do a dishonorable — perhaps even an 
unlawful — act; and she was overcome with shame and 
confusion at the thought. 

didn’t mean, — I never thought, — do you suppose 
Mr. Hardiman meant anything like that?” she stam- 
mered. ‘‘You don’t think, papa, Mr. Nixon, that I 
would ask Mr. Swanson — that is — anybody, to do such 
a thing as that, do you ? I didn’t know it could be any- 
thing like that.” 

“Of course we don’t think you would advise any one 
to do anything dishonorable, daughter. I didn’t mean, 
and Mr. Nixon didn’t mean to accuse you of anything. 
I was only giving voice to what was not my own suspi- 
cions alone, but what I think were Mr. Nixon’s also. 
We know you had no idea of its being anything im- 
proper, or you would have told us.” 

“Of course you would. Miss Jennie,” affirmed Nixon. 
“There is no one in the whole world I would not suspect 
of doing a mean thing before I would think it of you.” 

At this compliment, the first she ever remembered to 
have received from Mr. Nixon, Jennie raised her eyes 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


123 


just long enough to express her grateful thanks for his 
good opinion; and then seeing something in his own 
earnest gaze that spoke strongly of admiration, if not of 
love, she dropped them again, while once more the blood 
mounted to her cheek and brow. 

^^If Jennie is correct about it,” began Mr. Mason, 
*^and a demand of some kind is to be made upon Mr. 
Swanson, of course he must be notified. If we were 
perfectly sure that she was not mistaken about it, there 
would be no necessity of our finding Mr. Swanson, as, 
if they are going to make a demand on him, they must 
themselves find him before they can do it. If however 
— as is possible — Jennie did not get the exact facts from 
what she overheard, and there is a plan to vote Hardi- 
man’s men against him without letting him know any- 
thing about it, then we ought — of course — to apprise him 
at once of what is^up. And to be on the safe side, I 
think, Mr. Nixon, you had better do as you suggested, — 
find out by the papers where he will be to-morrow and 
either write, or — better still, if you can afford the time 
and expense — go and see him and tell him all you know. 
Possibly you could learn something by asking some 
of the men of his own party at headquarters, or some of 
his friends. You had best be cautious, however, as you 
might do more harm than* good from not knowing whom 
to approach.” 

“I will do so,” replied Nixon, *‘and if I learn nothing 
that causes me to change my mind, I will leave on the 
midnight train, going south. I know Swanson is in one 
of the southern counties of the district, and I will find 
out where and drop off there to-night and see him first 
thing in the morning. Good-bye, Miss Jennie, you have 
done exactly right about the matter, and we will not let 
Mr. Hardiman defeat us with his trickery, if we can help 




Congressman swanson 


it, and I think we can. As soon as I get back I will 
come directly here and tell you both all I have found' out 
about it.’’ 

He held out his hand to the girl, took the one she 
offered in return, gave it a pressure that seemed to 
contain an assurance of brotherly devotion, and left the 
garden. 

He went directly down town, and to the headquarters 
of the party that had given Mr. Swanson his second 
nomination; but though there were several of the leaders 
there, including, one of those whom Miss Mason had 
described as being in the private office when Mr. Hardi- 
man made his demands that afternoon, he heard no in- 
timation of anything unusual transpiring or likely to 
transpire; nor did any question he thought well to put, 
induce the giving of any information. To a question 
addressed to the gentleman referred to by Miss Mason, 
he received a reply that satisfied him that those who 
knew the facts in the case were determined to keep them 
to themselves; for when he asked if there was any truth 
in the rumor that Hardiman would not vote for Swanson, 
he was told that there was nothing in it whatever; that 
he — the speaker had seen Mr. Hardiman only that 
afternoon, and had heard him say positively, though 
casually, that he should both vote and work for Swan- 
son, and that he had no doubt of his election. 

Determined not to fail in any possible duty, he went 
to his room and read until near midnight, and then 
walked down to the depot. 

The train was not due for some minutes when he 
arrived, and, weary with his long wait at his room, he 
commenced pacing up and down the platform; and 
chancing to be near the end of it when he saw the train 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


125 


approaching, stood waiting while it slowed up, and as 
the first coach came opposite him, caught the railing 
and swung himself onto the platform and entered the 
cars before they came to a stop. 

Taking a seat, he peered out of the window into the 
semi-darkness of the dimly lighted depot just in time to 
see Horace Swanson step upon the platform of the sleep- 
ing car. 

Before he could pass through the car he was into the 
next one, the train was already in motion; and when he 
had traversed the length of the train and reached the 
sleeper, Mr. Swanson was already in the act of turning 
in. Seeing this, he hesitated a moment, then advanced 
and touched him on the arm. 

<‘Come into the smoking compartment a moment, 
please, ’^he said, and himself led the way without another 
word, and without having spoken Mr. Swanson’s name. 

Surprised, and not greatly pleased by this unexpected 
request from one whom he had no thought of seeing, 
Swanson followed without even stopping to slip on his 
shoes or his coat and vest. 


CHAPTER XII. 


Mf. Swanson, the man of honor calls Swanson the attorney-at-law to 
his defense. He proceeds to Washington where he makes some very 
pleasant acquaintances, and is furnished some information regarding 
the Washington life of his opponent which he thinks he can use to 
advantage in certain circles at home. He returns in ^ood spirits and 
re-enters the canvass. 

Entering the smoking compartment of the sleeping 
car, and finding it vacant, Nixon turned to Swanson 
who had followed, and said: 

do not know — in fact seeing you here — I do not 
believe that I have anything new to communicate to you, 
Mr. Swanson, but I supposed I had when I came down 
to take the train in search of you. I was already on the 
train when you entered, having jumped on the first coach 
at the further end of the depot and did not see you in 
time to speak to you before you got on; nor did the 
train stop long enough if I had. What I was seeking 
you to say, is in reference to a matter in which Mr. 
Hardiman is interested. If you are already informed 
about it I need say nothing more.” 

“Yes I have been fully posted and am now on my way 
to try and fix things to Hardiman’s satisfaction,” replied 
Swanson, thrown a little off his guard by Nixon’s evident 
knowledge of the matter, and not stopping to consider 
whether or not he would approve of the mission he wa«s 
on. “But how in the world did you come to know 
about it? I was told that the whole matter was a secret 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


127 


between Hardiman and the few gentlemen whom I met 
to-night, and myself. If the thing has become public I 
might as well spare myself the trip and get out of the 
race for Congress at once, for if Old Hardiman does as he 
threa-tens, I will be snowed under by five hundred major- 
ity at the least,’’ 

*‘Miss Mason overheard Mr. Hardiman when he was 
making known his demands to some of your friends,” 
replied Mr. Nixon, ‘^and came to us — that is to her 
father and me with it. It has gone no further yet, and I 
do not know that it need. I acknowledge, however, 
that if Miss Mason has the right of it I do not see how 
you can accomplish what he asks.” 

*‘I shall have help,” returned Swanson, ^‘and it has to 
be done. I don’t like it, but we can’t afford to refuse, as 
there is no doubt that Hardiman will vote everyone of 
his men against us if we do not do as he demands, and 
that means certain defeat. Of course it is outrageous in 
him to ask it, but we cannot afford to be beaten now. 
It is but two weeks to election and if we can hold the 
labor vote as it now stands pledged, I am certain of 
being elected. You do not greatly disapprove of 
what I am going, to do, do you?” he queried a little 
uneasily, for he noticed an expression upon Nixon’s face 
which was not altogether one of approval to say the 
least. 

<‘It is certain defeat to refuse,” he continued, 
thought you were as anxious for my election as anybody, 
since I am the candidate of the Labor men.” 

certainly desire your election,” replied Nixon, 
‘‘though to be frank with you I do not any longer antici- 
pate any great good to come to the laboring people from 
it. This is not altogether, perhaps not in any degree, 
your fault, but is the result of conditions which I did not 


128 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


foresee when I asked you to become our candidate, and 
I am as I say, still anxious to see you elected, though 
more because others desire it than because I think you 
can do the laboring men any good. But as I understand 
it, the demands which Mr. Hardiman is making involves 
something very near asking a violation of the law. Is 
this not so?” 

Swanson flushed. 

‘‘No, it is not a violation of the law, Mr. Hardiman 
asks, but a ruling under a law; one that the Post-office 
Department has the right to pass upon, and which it has 
passed upon, but in a way not satisfactory to Mr. Hardi- 
man. What he now asks is that we obtain a reversal of 
that ruling so that his paper may go through the mails 
at pound rates, instead of, as now, compeling him to pay 
one cent on each paper. It is really a hardship to Mr. 
Hardiman to have to pay so much money for postage, 
and detracts very largely from his profits, and so compels 
him to pay less wages than he otherwise might do. I 
should think you laboring men would feel interested in 
that, and desirous of seeing Mr. Hardiman get what he 
is asking for. In fact, in undertaking this mission, I 
felt that I was doing a favor to the laboring men, aside 
from any interest they may have in my election.” 

It was Swanson, the attorney, who was speaking now; 
the man trained to defend the cause he had been paid to 
defend. 

Swanson, the man of honor, felt himself on trial before 
himself and before Nixon, and he instinctively appealed 
to Swanson, the attorney-at-law, who stepped at once 
into the case and argued it with all the skill of a mind 
trained to make the worse appear the better cause. 

In his eagerness to clear his client, he did not hesitate 
to defend as proper, and even laudible, the acts of Mr. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


129 


Hardiman which only a moment before he had denounced 
as outrageous, and he would have continued his defense 
at greater length but that Nixon stopped him. 

‘‘It is not necessary to argue the case,” he said, “I 
am not a politician, but I have learned enough of politics 
already since this campaign opened to convince me 
anew, that, until the masses of the people are better 
educated upon questions affecting their interests, they 
cannot expect relief; and that under existing conditions, 
victory at the polls is not to the side which is most afraid 
of violating the moral law. For the present I have only 
this to say: As I now see it, no good could come to any 
one from any exposure which I might make of what you 
are about to undertake, and you may therefore rely upon 
my silence regarding it.” 

“Thank you,” replied Swanson, who really felt greatly 
relieved at hearing Nixon so declare. “I am sure you 
will think about this as I do when you study it over a 
little more. 

“Of course I wish we did not have it to do, but what 
can we do ? The opposition is doing things just as bad 
and worse. Why they have been running men in from 
another state for more than a month, in order to vote 
them at the coming election, and will likely defeat our 
state ticket with the votes of men who do not live in the 
state, and who will leave it the day after election, if they 
get sober enough to travel. 

“Politics is a dirty mess any way, and sometimes I 
wish I had never accepted either nomination; but I am 
in for it now and being in I mean to win if I can honor- 
ably, and there really is nothing dishonorable in asking 
that a case be re-opened and a new ruling made upon it. 
It is done in our courts every day and I do not doubt is 
9 


130 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


a very common thing in the Postoffice department at 
Washington.” 

will do as I have said, Mr. Swanson. So far as I 
am concerned you need not fear anything leaking out, 
and I presume you can depend upon Miss Mason and 
her father.” 

‘‘I am sure of it, I am sure Miss Mason will not do 
anything to injure my chances for election. She and I 
are friends and she has always seemed to be greatly 
interested in my race as the candidate of the laboring 
men. However, you had best tell her and her father of 
your own intention of saying nothing and advise them to 
be cautious. A slip of the tongue from either might 
cause trouble.” 

will tell them what you say, Mr. Swanson. Good 
night. I am going back to the front car and shall drop 
off at the next station and return on the early train in the 
morning.” 

“Good night, Mr. Nixon, I am a thousand times 
obliged to you for your intended effort to find and make 
me acquainted with this matter, and if there is anything 
I can do for you at any time in the future I shall do it 
gladly, believe me, and I hope you will do your best to 
hold your men together on election day.” 

He grasped Mr. Nixon’s hand and shook it warmly, 
receiving a less cordial pressure in return. 

Nixon returned to his former seat in the front car, and, 
as he had suggested, dropped off at the first stop the 
train made, sought out a respectable second-class hotel 
and went to bed after giving orders to be called in time 
for the train that passed going Smithville way at about 
sunrise. 

Horace Swanson returned to his berth in the sleeper 
and turned in, but he no longer felt disposed to sleep. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


131 

He was worried and out of humor. And the thought 
that worried him most, was in connection with the 
Masons. <‘What will Jennie think of it and me,’^ was 
the question which kept recurring to him. 

He was not in love with her, he was sure of that; yet 
he felt that he was interested in her in a way that made 
what she thought of his acts of interest to him, and he 
feared, in fact knew, that in her pure heart he would be 
judged to have done a dishonorable thing. 

‘^It can’t be helped now, he said mentally at last. 
^‘It is too late to back out if I wanted to; and politics 
are politics anyway. I am in it and I am going to see it 
through.” 

He turned over, adjusted his blanket and pillow to suit 
him and dropped off into sleep that lasted until the porter 
called him just before reaching Crosstown where he left 
the car. 

Here he found the messenger awaiting him who had 
been sent to obtain a letter from the candidate for gov- 
ernor, received the desired epistle, and in another hour 
was again upon his journey. In a few days later he was 
once more upon the stump in his own district, urging 
the voters to rally and stand firm for the candidates of 
the party of Respectability and Great Moral Ideas. 

He was in the best of spirits and seemed confident of 
his election. 

He was confident. 

He had succeeded fully in his mission at Washington, 
and with the certainty of receiving the votes of Hardi- 
man’s five hundred employees, together with such of the 
unemployed laborers, and those who worked by the day, 
as were inside the labor organizations and would be con- 
trolled by them, he felt that he was already about as 
good as elected. 


132 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


His trip to the National Capital had been, on the 
whole, a very pleasant one. 

Besides having accomplished the business on which 
he had been sent, he had made a very pleasant ac-^ 
quaintance in the person of the Assistant Post-Master 
General, and had by him been introduced to several 
politicians of National reputation, who had assured 
him that they took a great deal of interest in the 
contest in his district and should be most happy to 
hear of his election to Congress to succeed the present 
member, who was not only of the opposition party, but 
who they declared was, “if not actually corrupt, at least 
not so square as he should be.*’ And they proceeded to 
inform Mr. Swanson o*f several ugly rumors affecting the 
man’s — his opponent’s — private character, which, he told 
himself, he could use to good advantage in certain 
circles at home, if necessary, in order to offset any 
attacks that might be made upon him in case anything 
relative to his trip to Washington should leak out. 

Taken altogether he felt the few hours he had spent 
in the Capitol City were well spent, and he had lost 
nothing by the trip, especialy, as he was told on his re- 
turn, that Brown, who had been filling his appointments 
during his absence, had done good work in arousing the 
farmers to an increased interest in the coming election, 
and upon the right side. 

And beside all this he had thought of a scheme by 
which he could, in a measure at least, even things up 
with Hardiman, and at the same time do a favor for the 
Mason’s, that ought, so he told himself, to reestablish 
him in their estimation, if, as he felt was the case, he 
had fallen from the high pedestal upon which, in Miss 
Jennie’s eyes, if not in those of her father also, he knew 
he had formerly stood. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


133 


will serve the old rascal exactly right,” he ment- 
ally commented, as he thought the matter out while 
whirling along in the cars toward home. ‘‘I shall not be 
beholden to him after election, in either case. If I am 
elected I can afford to defy him, and if defeated, I shall 
have nothing further to lose. Pll do it, if only to teach 
him others can play at bluff as well as he. It will be a 
gpod joke to hoist the old fellow on his own petard, and 
ril do it just as sure as shooting.” 

* * * * * 5i« 

Nixon met Jennie Mason on the street as she was 
going to the office on the morning of his return 

after his interview on the cars with Swanson, and 
told her of having seen him. He did not tell her all 
that had passed between them but that Swanson was 
fully apprised of what was on foot and was on his way to 
Washington to try and obtain that which was demanded 
by Mr. Hardiman. 

Jennie did not ask what it was he was to obtain at 
Washington, and Nixon did not volunteer any informa- 
tion upon that point; but she felt it was something not 
altogether right, and that Nixon knew it and refrained 
from telling her because he did not wish to be Mr. Swan- 
son’s accuser. 

She felt relieved however when Nixon told her that he 
intended still to vote for Mr. Swanson, repeating also 
what that gentleman had said about keeping what they 
knew to themselves. 

Their c6nversation occupied but a few moments as 
the street was not the place for it, and besides Jennie 
had to be at the desk in Mr. Hardiman’s office at a cer- 
tain hour now nearly arrived; and Nixon, now that he 
could do so, wished to be at his place in the shop at 
quartering time, and so lose but a fourth of a day. 


134 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


Accordingly they separated after the hasty explanation 
already recorded, and Jennie went directly to her work, 
while Nixon repaired first to his room to change the 
clothes he had on for those which he wore in the shop. 

Mr. Hardiman said nothing to Miss Mason directly 
regarding what she knew of the conference held in his 
office the day before, but he made several remarks and 
asked one or two questions which she felt were intended 
to draw put what she knew, if anything. These she par- 
ried as best she could, and tried by close attention to her 
work to prevent their being continued. Nevertheless, 
she felt that her manner betrayed her secret and she was 
nervous and miserable in consequence. 

However, as nothing further was said during the days 
that followed, she ceased to think much about it; entirely 
so when a little later she learned through Mr. Nixon, 
that Mr. Swanson had returned and was again engaged 
in the canvass in his district. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

The election. The Chronicle and the Bugle disagree regarding the re- 
turns. Swanson's election finally conceded. He is called on for a 
speech. He responds to the call and makes a speech. After which 
the author of this narrative forgets himself and moralizes a little. 

^ ‘ Hip ! Hip / Hurrah / ” 

• ‘ The people again Triumphant. ’’ 

‘ ^ Swanson Elected by Six Huridred Majority. 

^ ^ We carry nearly every County in the District. 

And elect a Majority of both Houses of the Legisla' 
ture. ” 

The state ticket still in doubt ^ but returns^ so far as re- 
ceivedy indicate a clean sweep of the state. 

The above headlines, spreading over the greater part 
of a column, appeared in the Smithville Chronicle on the 
morning after the election, and were read by eager 
groups of men in the hotel, the saloons and upon the 
street corners, and wherever men congregated. And 
everywhere the reading was greeted with cheers and 
yells of delight. 

Not that everybody cheered, for everybody did not. 
Naturally there were those who did not relish the news 
as given by the Chronicle^ nor the cheering; but these 
kept, for the most part, a little out of the way of the 
noisiest of the crowds, and when appealed to, declared 

that those laughed best who laughed last, and that they 

135 


136 


congressman SWANSON 


could afford to wait for fuller returns, which, they had 
no doubt, would show quite a different condition of 
affairs. 

In fact the Bugle, which had — so its editor declared in 
a double leaded editorial — private advices from the most 
reliable sources, disputed the claims put forward by the 
Chronicle, and asserted that so far from carrying every- 
thing, the party that the Chronicle represented had 
actually lost two, if not three congressmen, and the lower 
house of the state legislature, if not the senate also. 

The Bugle further claimed the state ticket for its own 
party by a majority that would certainly reach ten thou- 
sand, and might be double that. 

‘‘Indeed,” it asserted, “the returns now coming in 
from the back townships indicate that it will reach fully 
the latter figures, and may even exceed it.” 

“As for this district,” the article continued, “Mr. 
Swanson appears, upon the face of the returns received, 
to be elected by a small majority; but this majority may 
disappear when the returns are all in. It may quite 
likely require the official count to decide.” 

“But,” it added, “there are charges which appear 
well authenticated, not only of bulldozing, but of illegal 
voting, by men in Mr. Swanson’s interest, at a number 
of polling places, both here and in other towns and cities 
and at some of the country precincts; and if these are in- 
vestigated, as they should and no doubt will be, enough 
illegal votes can easily be found to change the present 
footings and elect our candidate by a handsome ma- 
jority.” 

During the entire day the interest and excitement con- 
tinued, and was fed by hourly issues of both the Bugle 
and the Chronicle, containing latest advices from the 
headquarters of their respective parties at the State 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


137 


Capital, or special telegrams from local politicians and 
candidates in the different sections of the state; and as 
each bit of news, favorable to this side or that one, was 
made known, the cheers were repeated by groups of men 
of opposite political sympathies, first one and then the 
other being elated or depressed by the conflicting 
reports. 

As the day advanced, however, the cheers began to 
come most frequently from those who were most silent 
in the earlier hours, while looks of disappointment and 
chagrin were noticable upon the faces of many who were 
merriest in the morning. 

Appearances seemed to indicate that they had said 
well, who said, <‘He laughs best who laughs last.” 

Unofficial returns from the principle cities and towns 
of the state, and from those counties lying along the lines 
of railroad, were all in by noon, and upon these both 
parties were practically agreed, the difference in the two 
counts being trifling, the total as received leaving the 
ticket of which the Chronicle was the supporter, a couple 
of thousands ahead. 

But as usual the returns from the back townships were 
slow in coming in, and as these were the strongnolds of 
the party that the Bugle espoused, those who stood with 
it felt confident yet of being victors; while the Chronicle 
folks feared, although they denied their danger, from 
this source. 

And not without reason did the one hope and the other 
fear; for as these returns came scattering in, their char- 
acter was something of a surprise to both parties; for, 
after cutting down the majority of two thousand, claimed 
by the Chronicle for its state ticket, to one thousand, 
then to five hundred, and then to nothing, it began piling 
it up upon the other side. And this majority grew as 


138 


Congressman swanson 


precinct after precinct and county after county was heard 
from, until something near ten thousand was reached and 
there it stopped, and the returns were declared all in; 
and the Bugle crowd went wild and yelled itself hoarse 
shouting over their victory in the state; while the Chron- 
icle crowd gathered in front of the Eagle Hotel and 
crowed over their victory in the couftty and district, and 
demanded a speech from Swanson, whose election was 
now conceded, and who had been saved from defeat by 
the vote of Hardiman’s men; his majority being just a 
trifle less than five hundred, which was almost the exact 
number of the voters employed in Hardiman^s shops. 

In response to their calls, Swanson again appeared 
upon the balcony of the hotel; and again there were 
present the local bosses of the party that claimed him. 

Peters, too, there being no procession of laboring men 
for him to appear conspicuous among, crowded upon the 
balcony and was allowed to sit where he could be seen 
by the crowd below. ^ 

Other less shining lights among the labor leaders were 
also allowed to appear among the bosses upon the 
balcony, although not given the most conspicuous seats. 
They had been of use in the campaign and this was 
their reward, — permission to sit for an hour in the com- 
pany of the recognized leaders of the party of Respect- 
ability and thus have reflected upon them, as it were, 
some of the aforesaid respectability, and also to share in 
the adulation which the crowd below was bestowing upon 
those above. 

It could not hurt the bosses — this permitting the labor 
leaders to appear among them for once. 

To-morrow they will return to their work and nothing 
more will be seen or heard of them until a few weeks or 
months before the next election, when they will again be 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


139 

shown some little courtesies for a time and urged to 
*‘help hold your fellow laborers in the ranks of the 
Grand Old Party of Respectability and High Moral 
Ideas/* 

Swanson was introduced to the yelling crowd by one 
of the bosses as ‘‘Congressman’* Swanson, which allu- 
sion to the result •of the election caused the wildest 
cheering. 

When this had died away, Swanson spoke. 

He was in high spirits, and spoke in fervid tones and 
a ringing voice, that, of itself, was enough to delight a 
crowd such as was before him. 

He congratulated them upon the great victory they 
had won in the district. A victory which he declared 
was due to the intelligent and united action of the labor- 
ing men, who had thus shown to the world that they 
were capable of standing together in their own interests, 
and in support of true principles of government; and he 
expressed the hope that the day was not far distant 
when other laboring men, in other sections of the state 
and in other states, would emulate their example and 
win other and still greater victories. 

“The loss of the state, if it be true that it is lost to 
us,’* he continued, “is due solely to the fact that in 
other portions of the state the laboring men were not 
aroused, and failed to take the same intelligent action 
you have taken; or being aroused, have been deceived 
by the misstatement of facts and the false reasoning of 
the opposition party into voting with them, in antago- 
nism to their own best interests.** 

The crowd of working men below cheered lustily; and 
thus encouraged, Swanson continued by declaring it to 
be his firm belief that the time was near at hand when 
the laborers of the entire country “would have become 


140 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


sufficiently intelligent to make it impossible for dema- 
gogues to longer deceive any considerable portion of 
their numbers into voting with a party whose record 
proved it to be incompetent, vascillating and treason- 
able.’^ 

And again the crowd of workingmen cheered, and after 
thanking them for the confidence in him exhibited in 
having selected him from the many able men who sur- 
rounded him, to represent the district in the halls of 
National legislation, and promising to be true to the 
trust thus imposed, and guard with equal care the inter- 
ests of all classes, he sat down amidst cheers from the 
crowd below and the clapping of hands from those about 
him in the gallery. 

If it occurred to Swanson that there was anything gro- 
tesque in the idea of congratulating the laboring men 
upon their “intelligent” hanging together in a canvass 
that had resulted in his election, he dismissed it without 
consideration. 

He knew, of course, that the intelligence exhibited by 
them had been of an entirely negative quality, since they 
had voted almost to a man, either under the quietly 
exercised authority of Hardiman and others like him, or 
had gone with the crowd without any effort to understand 
the issues of the campaign, other than an occasional at- 
tendance upon a rally of their own party; going solely 
for the purpose of enjoying the excitement of the hour 
and to help swell the crowd in opposition to “the other 
fellows;” cheering when others started the cheers, and 
returning to work the next day with no increase of knowl- 
edge beyond the fact that some man of their party had 
made a speech and that they had helped to applaud it. 

Swanson had taught them nothing in his campaign. 
He knew very little of their condition or the causes for 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


141- 

it when he was nominated, and not knowing their conr 
dition and needs could not know the remedy. Since his 
nomination and during the canvass he had been sur- 
rounded by men and influences that were not calculated 
to draw him near the people but away from them; while 
his interviews with men like Peters who were allowed to 
stand as the representatives of the labor organizations, 
were not calculated to increase his respect for laboring 
men generally. 

True there were Nixon and Mr. M^son whom he 
respected and whom he knew to be both honest and 
thoroughly informed; but then they had no considerable 
following; and once nominated, the desire to be elected 
overbalanced the inspiration to be of use to the laborers, 
since this inspiration was not backed either by any posi- 
tive knowledge of their condition, or of the cause or 
remedy for the evils of which they complained; and was, 
moreover, in a degree at least, stifled by the apathy of 
the laborers themselves, who were too indolent mentally, 
to apply themselves to the study of the cause and 
remedy for these evils, and so permitted any of their 
number to stand as their representative who had the 
requisite amount of cheek to claim, and sufficient com- 
mand of language to publicly assert his claim to be 
such. 

He had begun by complimenting them on their intelli- 
gence, and they had cheered. He learned that they had 
no intelligent conception of any public question. 

He spoke of glorious liberty and the freedom which 
had descended from revolutionary sires to noble sons, 
and again they cheered and said nothing of the fact that 
they had sold their liberties with their labor and voted 
as they were bidden by whomsoever gave them employ- 
ment and bread. 


142 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


He talked .of honor, and of justice in politics, and found 
at his side a representative of the workingmen tempting 
him to dishonor and injustice. 

Is it any wonder that the feelings of a naturally sympa- 
thetic nature which found expression in such language 
as first caused Horace Swanson to be looked upon as a 
friend of the laboring men never became anything more; 
never took practical shape; never grew into anything 
stronger or better than a feeling of sympathy, as easily 
laid aside as aroused, for a class of men and women who 
appeared, upon the whole, to be pretty well contented 
with their lot; or if not that, too apathetic to make any 
great effort to understand the cause or apply the remedy 
for the wrongs they complained of; and so, perhaps, not 
so much wronged after all? 

The apathy of the laboring men has ever been the one 
insurmountable obstacle in the way of establishing jus- 
tice upon the throne of government. 

I have seen a thousand, five thousand, laboring men 
carrying torches in a procession organized for the pub- 
licly avowed purpose of arousing their enthusiasm as a 
cheaper means of getting their votes than that of making 
clear to them the issues involved in the contest, or with 
the openly declared object of preventing them from 
listening to the arguments of the opposition party; and I 
have seen the wildest demonstrations of delight over 
a political victory, by men who ought to have known, 
and would have known had they preferred a little mental 
effort and liberty, to mental indolence and serfdom, that 
it was a victory over them and not for them; a victory 
of those who neither sought nor intended, to do them 
justice. 

A civilization which begets thousands of men with 
brains and sympathies too inoperative to act in defense 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


143 


of their own rights and the rights of their fellow 
laborers will beget scores of Swansons with intellects 
and sympathies sufficiently more active to incite to 
action in defense of their own individual rights and the 
satisfaction of their own personal desires, but not 
enough so to compel them to defend the rights of 
others — least of all to defend those who will not act in 
their own defense. 

It is only the highest organization of brain and heart 
that impels to action first for the race and second for self; 
and of these few only the supremely high are still 
impelled to continue working for the good of the masses 
when they find that the masses prefer laboring with their 
bodies for others, to working with their brains for them- 
selves. 

There are many Horace Swansons in Congress. In fact 
Congress is largely made up of Swansons, — of men of 
naturally warm feelings, ready sympathies and genial 
natures. 

3uch men are popular at home, hence influential. 
Elected to Congress, they as readily respond to the 
influences thrown about them by the hard headed, hard 
hearted and scheming few, as to the feelings of neighbor- 
liness with those at home which gave them their popu- 
larity. And seeing the apathy of the masses and their 
apparent preference for a party victory, to a victory for 
principles of equity, justice and honor they readily and 
surely drift away from the people and become mere poli- 
ticians, without principles and with no ambition to bene- 
fit their fellows, but only to retain their popularity, 
increase the circle of their influence and enjoy in their 
own persons the pleasures and comforts which influence 
and position give. 

The few who occupy the highest plane may look down 


144 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


upon such with condemnation and may shout to the 
masses to brush them aside and put patriots and states- 
men in their places, and may even get an occasional 
response of cheers from the crowd but nothing else will 
follow. No permanent good can come to the masses 
until they learn to discriminate between parties and 
principles; and this will not be unti^they have educated 
their brains to think as well as their hands to work. 

No machine will ever run itself, or be benefited by its 
own labor. Except the oil which prevents its parts from 
wearing out too rapidly all that it adds to the wealth of 
the country will go to the man who runs it. 

If the laboring men continue to be machines other 
men will continue to run them, and the oil which pre- 
vents them from creaking is all they will retain of the 
wealth which they create. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

Doctor calls to congratulate his noble friend on his election, Mr, 
Peters also calls and demands that his services in holding the labor 
vote solid for Swanson be suitably rewarded — which reminds that 
gentleman that he has- promised himself to even things up a little 
with Mr. Hardiman. 

As soon as the crowd in front of the hotel had dis- 
persed, Mr. Swanson watched his opportunity to slip un- 
noticed from those within, and directed his steps toward 
his private office. 

Now that the excitement was over he began to feel the 
need of rest; and was, besides, anxious to be alone that 
he might think over the change in his prospects in life, 
and realize just what they were, and what it really was 
that had occurred to him. 

Arriving there, he found Doctor sitting on the steps 
and waiting for his coming, as on a former occasion re- 
ferred to in this history of men and events. He wel- 
comed him heartily, for he knew that here was a person 
whose interest in him was wholely disinterested; here 
was a loyal heart that rejoiced in his good fortune with- 
out one pang of jealousy or one selfish feeling; and recog- 
nizing this, he recognized also, though without exactly 
saying it, even mentally, that of all who had surrounded 
him during the days and weeks of the campaign, few^ 
if any — but had some selfish motive back of the work 
they had done to secure his election; and that love for 

themselves, and not for him, had prompted them to ^cti 
19 145 ■ 


146 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


But Doctor had worked entirely without selfish motives, 
and had worked hard. 

Swanson had heard of him frequently, though he had 
not seen him since the occasion last mentioned in this 
narrative. He knew that Doctor had been down among 
the poorest of the poor, sounding his praises, and urging 
the women to work and the men to vote for him; and 
though he had, on one or two occasions, felt a bit an- 
noyed when certain of his friends had chaffed him about 
“this champion of his,’^ “this Daniel Webster,’’ “this 
Cicero,” “this Demosthenes,” whom they laughingly 
asserted he “had employed to argue his case before the 
people,” he yet could not put away the feeling of grati- 
tude for such devotion to himself, and to the cause which 
Doctor fully, and he himself partly, believed he had 
espoused. 

“I didn’t come to ask you to let me stay all night, 
Mr. Swanson,” said Doctor, when that gentleman had 
taken him by the hand and was shaking it with his right 
while inserting the key in the lock with his left one, “ I 
didn’t come to stay all night, but just to say how glad I 
am, for your sake and the sake of the poor folks, that 
you are elected. I didn’t want to come about bothering 
you while you were so busy, so awful busy as I knew 
you must be while the campaign was going on, but now 
it’s over, I wanted you to know I hadn’t forgot, and that 
I did all I could for you; and I saw a good many folks 
and talked with them about you. Every body I could 
hear of that had ever bought a bottle of my medicine 
and it had done them good, I went and saw them and 
told them about you, and how you were for the poor 
man as much as for the rich, and tried to get them to 
vote for you. I knew if they had been cured by my 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


147 


medicine they wouldn’t refuse to let me talk to them, 
and I think I really did do some good.” 

Of course you did. Made me lots of votes. I heard 
about you often while I was going around over the dis- 
trict. But see here Doctor, you are not going to leave 
at this time of night. I sha’n’t hear to it. You must 
come in and stay all night with me; no, I won’t let you 
off, come right along in.” And Swanson fairly pulled 
Doctor in and locked the door afterwards. Then he 
said, laughing: 

*‘You can’t get out, so you will have to stay; there 
are plenty of blankets in the closet, in my room, as you 
know, and you can sleep on the lounge as you used to 
when you came often, and didn’t appear quite so afraid 
of permitting your friends to do you a trifling favor.” 

And Swanson proceded to light a lamp, using the 
same match to light a cigar that he had put in his mouth 
before leaving the hotel but had forgotten to light 
sooner. 

He understood Doctor probably better than any one 
else, and appreciated his devotion to himself. He knew 
quite as well as Doctor did, that his refusal to stay had 
arisen from a fear that he — Swanson — would think that 
he — Doctor — had come — not to express his gratification 
at the result of the election — but instead, to get a night’s 
lodging free, hence the decided manner in which he in- 
sisted on his remaining. 

Doctor understood also why Swanson was thus insist- 
ant, and his simple heart was filled with unutterable 
bliss at this new evidence of the goodness of the man he 
so loved and admired, and who alone, of all men, seemed 
best to understand and appreciate him. 

He had been in the crowd in front of the Eagle Hotel, 
or upon the outskirts of it, and had heard Swanson’s 


148 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


speech, and believed a great deal more of it than Swan- 
son did; in fact, believed it all, or at least believed that 
Swanson believed it all; believed that Swanson believed 
the laboring men — including Hardiman’s hands — had 
voted for him because he had been first nominated by 
the laboring men; although he, himself, knew, from 
mingling with them, that they had no choice, and had 
voted as Hardiman directed, without much thought or 
care about the matter. 

He had no idea that Swanson knew of this. He be-* 
lieved that Swanson was so pure and noble that it was 
not possible for any one to approach him with propo- 
sitions not wholly honorable; and the fact coming 
to his knowledge that Hardiman had signified to his 
employes that he wished Swanson elected, had rather 
warmed his heart toward Hardiman, whom he felt must 
be about becoming a better man, since he was in favor 
of electing so good a man to office. 

If anybody had told him Mr. Swanson had conspired 
to induce Hardiman to vote his men for him, willy nilly, 
whether they they wished to vote for him or not, and 
that to secure this end he had bribed a government 
officer with promises, he would not have believed it. 
He would have turned from one who made such asser- 
tions with feelings of pity and sorrow, that anyone 
should, through ignorance or prejudice, do a wrong of 
so grievous a nature to the noblest man living. 

So Doctor slept on the lounge in Swanson’s office 
that night, and even permitted his friend to bring him a 
breakfast from the hotel; something he had never con- 
sented to before, although it had sometimes been offered. 

To go to the hotel for breakfast himself, he did not 
dare; his shrinking nature making the thought of facing 
so many people at meal time a torture to be avoided at 


congressman SWANSON 


149 


any cost, even that of extreme hunger. But now he 
permitted Swanson to bring him something in a basket, 
which the landlady at the Eagle filled most willingly, 
when told, aside and laughingly, that it was for Doctor, 
‘^who — poor devil — thinks I am about the greatest man 
in the world, but is so bashful that he would probably 
starve before he would come to the hotel and eat with 
all your guests.” 

Returning to his office, as in going from it to the hotel 
for breakfast, everybody Swanson met had to shake 
hands and congratulate him on his successful race for 
Congress; a few of his more intimate friends attempted 
to guy him about the basket he carried, wishing to know 
if he had started to Washington already, and on foot; 
and similar attempts at pleasantries, all of which he 
good-naturedly parried, and continued his walk. 

Arriving at the office, he found that Doctor had very 
carefully swept the rooms, which had been neglected of 
late, had replaced the books in their proper positions on 
the shelves, made the bed, and put things generally in 
an orderly condition; for which Swanson thanked him, 
though telling him he ought not to have taken so much 
trouble upon himself. 

Doctor took his basket of food and a chair to one of 
the windows, turned his back to the center of the room 
and ate a heartier and a better meal than he had tasted 
before in many a day. The motherly soul of the land- 
lady of the Eagle had not stinted either the quality or 
quantity of the breakfast she had put up, and Doctor 
was hungry. 

As others began to drop in to congratulate the newly 
elected congressman. Doctor quietly slipped out un- 
observed, and it was weeks before Swanson saw any- 
thing more of his humble friend. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


150 

Then he came again, spent the night upon the sofa in 
the office, said a few words to prove his continued loyalty 
to his friend and the cause of the poor, as before, and 
again slipped away unperceived, to repeat the coming 
and going, at intervals of weeks or months, until Swan- 
son departed for Washington to enter upon his new 
duties as a member of the Congress of the United States. 

Among the earliest of Horace Swanson’s callers, on 
the morning referred to in this chapter, the one on which 
he brought Doctor his breakfast from the hotel, was Mr. 
Peters, the representative of the labor organization. He 
had tried hard to get a word privately with the newly 
elected congressman the afternoon and evening before, 
but had seen no good opportunity, as Swanson was 
either out of sight or surrounded by others whom Peters 
recognized as his superiors in a political, military sense, 
and hence did not dare interrupt with a request for a 
private audience. 

Now, however, he was on hand, determined to see his 
man, and demand that his services in the campaign 
which had been so successful in the county and district 
be recognized as they deserved. 

Finding Swanson alone for the moment, he made the 
object of his coming known with little delay and few 
words. 

He claimed the credit of having held the workingmen 
solidly together for Swanson and the county ticket, and 
demanded a position of some sort that would recom- 
pense him for his lost time and the work he had done 
and influence exerted; and he expected Mr. Swanson, if 
he could not himself give him such a position off hand, to 
use his influence with those who could, to secure it for 
him. 

‘‘But Mr. Peters,” returned Swanson, “I paid you for 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 151 

your timej you know, the same wages you were getting 
in the shop, and I am told also that the county central 
committee gave you money at various times. It seems 
to me you have already been paid pretty well for your 
time.” 

you call that pay” returned Peters, contemptu- 
ously, ‘Hhere are some others as have had their pay too; 
but I don’t reckon they are satisfied, or going to be, with- 
out something more. Folks that have influence don^t 
work in politics for just a bare living, Mr. Swanson; 
they want something better than day wages. If that is 
all they are to get, why they might as well stick to the 
shop and the factory, for they get that there. No sir, 
its influence that counts, and them that has influence is 
going to use it where it will bring ^em something better 
than day wages in a factory. You didn’t suppose I was 
workin’ just for the triflin’ sum you paid me, did you? 
That was just to enable me to keep goin’ like; so I 
shouldn’t be obliged to quit and let the men scatter and 
half of ’em vote for somebody besides our ticket. I 
reckon you don’t deny I did it, do you, Mr. Swanson? 
You recognize the fact that the laboring men voted for 
you solid, don’t you? Well, aint I the leader of the 
workingmen; president of the organization; and didn’t 
they do as I said? Come, Mr. Swanson, you know they 
did. Where’d you have been if I hadn’t held ’em solid 
for you? And where’d you be next time, if I should turn 
them against you?” 

Swanson felt both amused and disgusted with the 
assumption on Peters’ part that he had held the labor 
men solid. Remembering the hasty call from the can- 
vass, his hastier trip to Washington and what the trip 
was taken for, he realized of how little use Peters had 
been to him or to anybody and felt half inclined to tell 


152 CONGRESSMAN SWAlStSOI^ 

him that he had already been paid double his worth, and 
that for his part he would do nothing more for him; but 
then he remembered that Peters had actually been use- 
ful in some ways, and that he might be so again, and 
that anyway there was no need of offending him; so he 
replied that he appreciated Mr. Peters’ services, remem- 
bered that it was he and Nixon who first came to him 
with the suggestion that he run for Congress as the 
laboring men’s candidate, and promised that he would 
see what could be done for him. 

“Of course, Mr. Peters,” he said, “we know what 
you have done, and I will talk with the other leaders 
and see what they can do for you. You understand 
that I have no offices in my gift, but there are some 
local appointments to be made about the courts and 
the public institutions, and, perhaps, as a representa- 
tive laboring man, you will be recognized as entitled 
to something. You had better see Mr. Black and Mr. 
White at once, and ask them to secure you what you 
want. ” 

“The party that recognizes the Workingmen is the 
party that will get their votes hereafter,” replied 
Peters. “You know that yourself, Mr. Swanson, for 
where would you have been but for the labor vote? I 
am sure you see the necessity of giving them the 
recognition they ask for when they have helped you 
win the victory.” 

“And are there others that expect places?” asked 
Swanson, who began to wonder how much he was 
going to be annoyed with such men as Peters, demand- 
ing to be rewarded for their services in the campaign — 
a campaign which they declared had been made in the 
interest of their class. 

“Why, yes; I suppose so,” returned Peters. 


Congressman swaNsoN 


153 


“Though there ain^t none that really deserve anything. 
You see it all depended upon me. I was president of 
the organization, and I am the only one who made any 
speeches. The rest of them can’t talk much in public, 
anyway, and so couldn’t do much to influence others 
to vote for you and the rest of the ticket ; and anyway,, 
the men all came to me for advice to know what to 
do. So I don’t see that any of the rest are entitled to 
anything, and I wouldn’t give them anything, if I was 
you. Better give one representative man among them 
some high position where everybody will know it, and 
where he will have a chance to exert his influence to 
advantage in the next election, than to divide things 
up and give smaller places to each. Of course, if you 
have the small places to spare to these men, it wouldn’t 
be a bad idea to give ’em to ’em ; but I wouldn’t cut 
down the big place any to do it, because they really 
didn’t help much anyway, and it won’t make much 
difference if they do get mad. They can’t control any 
votes, scarcely.” 

Swanson’s growing contempt for Peters, who was 
evidently interested only in securing a soft place for 
himself and ready to sacrifice any and all of his com- 
rades, some of whom had really worked honestly and 
faithfully to bring in scattering votes for Swanson, was 
so great at this moment that he gave him a square 
snub by inviting a gentleman of his acquaintance, who 
entered at the moment, to follow him into his bed-room, 
under pretense of having something to say to him 
privatel}^ thus leaving Peters alone in the outer office, 
and, if his thick skin could be penetrated by a hint, 
dismissed without further ceremony. 

Peters’ skin was not so thin, however, as to be thus 
easily punctured, and when, after fifteen minute’s con- 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


tS4 

versation upon different subjects, including his owil 
election and Peter’s “infernal impudence" as Swanson 
put it to his friend, they emerged from the room, 
Peters was still in waiting, and Swanson was obliged 
to go down town in order to get rid of him. ^ 

Of Nixon, Swanson saw nothing — had seen nothing 
since their meeting on the cars that night the latter 
started for Washington to get things fixed up so as to 
satisfy Hardiman. He knew, through others, however, 
that Nixon had supported him at the polls, though 
without any show of enthusiasm. He felt that he 
should like to see Nixon and try and make him more 
warmly his friend. 

In fact, he felt rather in disgrace before Nixon, and 
although he told himself that he did not know why he 
should, he yet did feel that he would like to stand well 
in Nixon’s estimation. 

He also thought of calling on Jennie Mason, and 
decided to do so but put it off from day to day, and 
from Sunday to Sunday, until a month or more had 
passed and then decided that Miss Mason would feel 
insulted at his calling to receive her congratulations 
at so late a day, and so did not go at all. 

“I know what I’ll do," he said to himself one day, 
while thinking of the Masons. “I said I would make 
Old Hardiman even up a bit, and I’ll do it, and do it 
in a way to be of use to Jennie and her crippled father. 
The old rascal may come back at me two years from 
now, when I shall be wanting a re-election, but anyway 
I will take the risk, and what I am going to do may as 
well be done to-day as any time," and he picked up 
his hat and started in the direction of Hardiman’s 
office and shops. 

“Won’t the old fellow squeal though when I put the 


COKCRfiSSMAN SWAMSON 


i$5 

screws to him?” he said to himself as he walked 
along. “I believe Pd do it for the fun of seeing him 
squirm, if for nothing else,” and he smiled as he 
thought of what he was about to do and how “Old 
Hardiman” would take it.” 


CHAPTER XV. 


Swanson evens up'* with Mr. Har diman a little^ which appears much 
to the advantage of Mr. Mason and his pretty daughter, Jennie. 
Mr. Har diman 'Charges it up" to Mr. Swanson; who decides that he 
will call on Miss Mason at an early day. 

' It was not until he had nearly reached Hardiman^s 
office that the probability, the almost certainty, of 
meeting Miss Mason, whom he knew was in Hardiman^s 
employ, occurred to Swanson ; but when it did, he 
stopped short in his walk for a single second and then 
turned quickly down a side street, intending to walk 
around a block and thus give himself time to decide 
what to do. He had not taken a dozen steps in this 
new direction, however, when he saw Miss Mason enter 
a notion store just in advance of him, and immediately 
he turned about and walked rapidly to Hardiman’s 
office. 

Entering, he found the bookkeeper at his desk, and 
inquiring for Mr. Hardiman, was told he was in the 
inner office ; and there he found that gentleman seated 
and engaged in looking over his month’s balance sheet 
that had just been handed him. 

He looked up as Swanson entered and greeted him 
cordially enough but without rising. 

“Good morning, Mr. Swanson,” he said, “how do 
you find yourself this morning? Take a seat.” And 

he waved his hand in the direction of a chair. 

156 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


157 


Swanson took the chair thus indicated, made a re- 
mark or two about the weather, inquired in a casual 
way if business was brisk, and then said : 

"I have called to-day in my character of attorney-at- 
law, Mr. Hardiman, and on behalf of a client. I 
presume you surmised as much? Yes? Well, I suppose 
we may as well come to business at once. The condi- 
tions surounding this case are somewhat peculiar, and 
I recognize the fact that you may think it not one in 
which I need have permitted myself to be retained, but 
this I cannot help.” 

“The truth is," he continued, eyeing Mr. Hardiman 
closely, “that the reason for my somewhat hasty trip to 
Washington last Fall in your interest is known to one 
or two others than those to whom it was intended to 
be intrusted.” 

He paused here to give time for his words to take 
effect, still keeping his eyes fastened on the face of 
the man opposite him. 

If he had expected any evidence of surprise or fright 
to manifest themselves in Mr. Hardiman’s face, how- 
ever, he was disappointed. That gentleman simply 
leaned back in his chair; placed the tips of the fingers 
of the right hand against those of the left, inclined 
his head in an attitude of rather disinterested attention, 
and remarked simply : 


Ah?” 


“Yes, ” returned Swanson ; “unfortunately, it’s a fact, ” 
and again he paused. 

“Well?” 

This from Mr. Hardiman. 

“Well,” resumed Swanson, “I appear in the interest 
of those parties.” 

“I should think you would need to appear in your 



158 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


own defence rather. If I am correctly informed, you 
made representations to a certain officer of the 
government at Washington that would not look well 
if printed in — the Bugle, for instance." 

Swanson laughed ; not loudly, but easily and good 
naturedly. 

"There are a good many things, Mr. Hardiman, that 
wouldn’t look well in the Bugle, and that do not need 
to appear there ; things that are too valuable, in fact, 
to share with the public." 

"Yes? I am glad you appreciate the situation. 
May I ask in what way this conversation and the facts 
— if they are facts — you alluded to interest me?" 

There was a touch of sarcasm in Mr. Hardiman’s 
voice as he asked this that indicated an intention of 
not yielding too easily to any demand that might be 
made upon him ; and also that he felt that if he were 
in the mud, his interviewer was quite as deep in the 
mire ; and so not particularly dangerous. 

"Certainly, Mr. Hardiman," replied Swanson, "that 
is exactly what I came for. Did I not tell you, or did 
I neglect to do so, that I appear for those who are 
acquainted with the facts in the case, and have come 
to ask that you consider the propriety of doing them 
a small favor. " 

"A favor, eh! Well, what is it?" 

"Releasing a small mortgage you hold upon their 
home." 

Again Swanson fastened his eyes on those of his 
companion, and this time there was a look of deter- 
mination and a fixity of purpose in the look that was 
not lost upon the other, although that other gave no 
indication in any way of being affected by it. He 
simply rocked himself slightly backward in his office- 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


159 


chair as at every previous pause in the conversation, 
lightly pressed his finger-ends together, separated and 
again touched their tips ; and returned the firm gaze 
of his opponent with one of perfect coolness and ap- 
parently moderate interest, as if he listened rather 
through politeness to matters affecting one for whom he 
had a friendly feeling only, rather than to what was 
of great importance to himself. 

“Do you know the amount of the mortgage you are 
expected to secure the release of?” he asked after a 
pause of a few seconds. 

“It is about six hundred dollars, interest and all.” 

“H’m! Yes. I presume I may ask, without giving 
offense, the name of the person .whose mortgage I am 
expected to release?” 

This was said in the same tone of quiet sarcasm that 
had characterized most of Mr. Hardiman’s conversation 
during the interview, and indicated that that gentleman 
was still defiantly confident of his ability to defend 
himself against any attack Swanson could make, by a 
counter-charge of being in equal danger of exposure 
with himself. Both men knew of course that neither 
had done anything illegal so far as asking for a 
change in the ruling of the Post-Office Department 
was concerned. Such requests are of daily occurrence, 
and are wholly legitimate and proper when the depart- 
ment has acted without sufficient evidence and so made 
an unfair ruling, or when the paper ruled against has 
changed its character without changing its name. 

The only danger to Swanson lay in the fact that he 
had asked the department to make a ruling clearly 
unjust to the government and to other papers; one 
that gave Hardiman an advantage over rival firms, not 
contemplated by the law governing the rates of postage 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


i6o 

upon purely advertising matter ; and that he had done 
this to influence votes in an election in which he was 
a candidate, a knowledge of which facts, if made 
public, would affect his social standing in certain 
quarters, and might be used against him in any future 
contest he should make for office. 

Hardiman’s danger was of a different character. He 
cared nothing for what people might say, as he had no 
political or social aspirations, but he did care for the 
dollars which the late ruling of the department saved 
him ; and he did not want public attention called to the 
facts in relation to his paper, lest some rival firm with 
sufficient influence to obtain a reversal of the ruling 
secured by Swanson, should take the matter up. 

He was not yet sufficiently satisfied that Swanson 
was not playing a purely bluff game, to induce him to 
offer terms ; hence the unconcealed sarcasm of tone 
and manner with which he asked if he might be per- 
mitted to know the name of the party on whose 
property he was being asked to release a mortgage. 

On his part, however, Swanson felt too sure of suc- 
ceeding with his project to be easily angered, and again 
he laughed quietly and good humoredly as he replied : 

“Oh, certainly ; in fact now I think of it, you would 
have to know, wouldn’t you, before you could release 
it as I request. Well, it is Mr. Joseph Mason, the 
inventor and possible owner of the royalty on certain 
machines, some of which I understand you are using. “ 

It was Mr. Hardiman’s turn to glance keenly at his 
companion now, and he gave him a look that sought 
to read as much as possible of what was passing 
through his mind, and of what he really knew or sus- 
pected about the legal right or wrong involved in the 
possession of the machines alluded to. As to moral 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON i6i 

rights Mr. Hardiman cared little, nothing in fact. 
But for legal rights that could be enforced in the 
courts he had a respect proportionate to their finan- 
cial value. 

His keen glance remained fixed on his companion 
but a second, however; he did not want to arouse any 
suspicion in Swanson’s mind that there really was any- 
thing in his suggestion of possible legal rights to the 
invention, still remaining to Mr. Mason. 

After a moment of silence, during which he again 
swung his body back and forth slightly in his chair and 
pressed his finger tips together a few times he 
answered : 

“I think I understand you, Mr. Swanson; you intend 
to marry Miss Mason, and wish me to make her a 
wedding present of the mortgage on her father’s house. 
Is that it?” 

Swanson flushed deeply and answered a little angrily : 

“Do you think I wish to profit pecuniarily by the 
transaction? If so, I assure you, you are mistaken. 
No; I am not going to marry Miss Mason. If I were, 
I certainly should not ask what I have asked of you, 
though it is, in my opinion, a demand for but very 
imperfect justice ; and I will tell you plainly, since 
plain words seem best suited to both of us, that the 
reason I do not ask more of you is because I have no 
way of compelling you to give more. You can better 
afford to relinquish a mortgage of six hundred dollars 
that you hold against property scarcely worth the 
amount of the mortgage, and which mortgage Mr. 
Mason can never pay, than to lose six thousand by 
having a ruling of the Post-Office department made 
against your paper ; and I swear to you that if you 
refuse to surrender the mortgage on Mason’s home, I 

ij 


i 62 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


will personally see to it that the ruling is made and 
that your paper goes through the mail only at circular 
postage. I do this because of the belief I have that if 
the truth could be got at, you owe Mr. Mason not only 
the amount demanded, but many times as much ; and 
that to compel you to relinquish the mortgage is, as I 
have said, a simple though very imperfect act of 
justice. ” 

"You are very disinterested and very quixotic in 
this whole matter, no doubt,” sneered the other, now 
showing signs of anger also. "If you think Mr. Mason 
or his pretty daughter have other claims upon me, why 
don’t you strike for bigger money? You are too modest 
in your demands for one who is so certain of having 
claims of greater magnitude” 

"I may conclude to do so yet,” replied Swanson, 
curtly. 

Again there was silence between the two men for a 
short space, and then Hardiman said : 

"If 5'ou have decided to induce Mr. .Mason to permit 
you to open up any pretended claim against me grow- 
ing out of our former relations in the invention of 
those machines, there is no use talking about a release 
of the mortgage in connection with the ruling of the 
post-office department as to the right of the Hoe and 
Subsoiler to go through the mails at pound rates. If 
I am to be compelled to fight such a nonsensical claim 
as that, I certainly shall not supply the sinews of 
war to my enemy in advance ; but on the contrary, 
shall stand on my legal rights, which are perfect in 
both cases.” 

"So far as legal rights go, Mr. Hardiman, I doubt 
much if Mr. Mason can prove any. I do not think 
he himself believes he can, though I know he considers 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


163 

himself deeply injured at your hands. So far as I am 
concerned, therefore, you can rest assured you will 
not be troubled in that direction. As for the others 
you have my ultimatum. You can do as you like; 
but if you refuse my request I shall certainly do as I 
said — get the ruling reversed and compel you to sus- 
pend the publication of the “Hoe and Subsoiler, ” or pay 
one cent per copy for passing it through the mails. I 
am your debtor for some things, and I will pay my 
debts if my demand in this matter is not complied 
with. ’’ 

“But what guaranty have I that if I surrender the 
mortgage Mason will keep the matter quiet?” 

“The knowledge that he has kept quiet in the past, 
although acquainted with all the facts from the begin- 
ning. Let us understand each other fully, Mr. Hardi- 
man. I am acting in the matter without consulting 
Mr. Mason ; and solely on my own motion, and be- 
cause of my respect for a crippled man and his daughter 
to whom I am under obligations, and who are too poor 
to defend themselves or protect themselves from in- 
justice. In doing so, I am but putting in practise the 
rules of success that you have taught me — that is to 
use whatever power I can command to compel other 
persons to do as I desire them to do." 

“Very shrewd in you, I am sure, Mr. Swanson ; very 
shrewd, and proves you to be an able man. You ap- 
pear to have forgotten one thing, however. ” 

“Possibly; what is it?” 

“That you may want my help again two years from 
now, when you will be a candidate for re-election. ” 

“On the contrary, Mr. Hardiman, I have considered 
that point carefully, and do not hesitate to say that the 
probability is I shall want your help at that time, and 


164 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


if I do, I shall expect to make it to your interest to 
give it. I have learned by the experience of the last 
campaign that you are not in the habit of extending 
help on any other terms ; and I judge you to be too 
good a business man to permit anything that is past to 
interfere with benefits to come. In plainer words, I 
expect to pay in the future as in the past for all politi- 
cal favors I may require at your hands. And on the 
other side, I intend to collect for my friends for what 
they may do for you. It is a favor to you to keep this 
matter quiet, and as the Masons are in possession of 
the facts, I propose you pay them for the favor they 
have done you and are still doing you in not repeating 
it to your rivals in business, and thus giving them oppor- 
tunity to work for a reversal of the ruling obtained by 
me. ” 

“You are certainly a wise young man in some re- 
spects,” returned Hardiman, with a dry little laugh, 
"and you are altogether right in saying that you will 
pay in the future for any political favors obtained from 
me. But do I understand that Mr. Mason is unaware 
of your coming here to-day, and of the object of your 
visit?” 

“Just that. Mr. Mason, as I imagine, kept my 
visit to Washington, and of its object a secret 
on account of his friendliness to me. Now I 
propose that he shall have his reward, and that 
you who get more out of that affair than any one else, 
shall do him a little justice and relinquish the mort- 
gage you hold against him. You can make any excuse 
you choose for doing so : all I ask is that it be done ; 
as to the way of doing, I care nothing. In fact, I prefer 
not to be known as in any way connected with it. ” 

Again Mr. Hardiman rocked his body slowly back 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 165 

and forth, pressing his finger-tips together. After a 
moment spent in thought he spoke. 

“All right, Mr. Swanson ; I will do as you say. The 
mortgage on Mason^s cottage shall be cancelled to- 
morrow, and you can assure yourself of the fact after 
it is done by a look at the mortgage record in the 
recorder’s office.” 

Then he added : “Since you are given to plain 
words I will follow the example you set and tell you 
that you may expect to find the six hundred dollars 
you have compelled me to give Mason, charged up 
against you in any deal we may chance to have in the 
future. ” 

Hardiman rose as he spoke, seeing which, Swanson 
rose also and took his hat. 

“I certainly expected that,” he said, laughing. “I 
think I understand your methods of transacting busi- 
ness pretty well, Mr. Hardiman, and in dealing with 
you, will endeavor not to forget them. It is best for 
men like you and I to be frank with each other. 
Well, good-day ; perhaps our next deal may be more 
to your advantage. ” 

“That is quite possible,! think,” returned Hardiman. 
“Good-day.” 

Swanson passed from the inner to the outer office. 
Miss Mason was at her desk, having stepped out at 
the time Swanson saw her, to purchase some trifle that 
she needed in her work, and had forgotten as she came 
from dinner. 

Although he would have preferred not to meet her at 
this time, he did not permit the fact to appear in his 
manner; but bowed and went directly to her desk, 
took the hand she offered — a little stiffly, he thought — 
very cordially in his own, and chatted gaily for a mo- 


i66 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


ment or two ; apologized for not having called recently 
on the plea of being busy, asked afte< her father’s health, 
and intimated that if he had not sinned beyond forgive- 
ness by staying away so long, he should like to call 
at an early day. At which Jennie — though at first 
inclined to be a little distant — melted a trifle and as- 
sured him that both herself and her father would be 
pleased to see him at any time. He thanked her, bowed 
again and left the room and the building. 

The truth was, that Swanson could not come into 
the presence of this young and beautiful girl without 
feeling strongly attracted to her, and experiencing a 
desire for her company. He felt her goodness and 
purity, and was drawn toward her, though not irresisti- 
bly. On her part, she had the same feeling of being 
attracted, but with this difference : that she could not 
fully approve of some things she saw in his character, 
though what those things were she would have found 
it difficult to explain. 


CHAPTER XVI. 

In which Mr. Swanson wonders if he shall ever marry, and whom. 
Also contains a truthful account of the manner in which the transfer 
of the mortgage on Mason's home was offered and received. And 
what secret purpose Mr. Har diman had back of it. 

One evening, shortly after his visit to Mr. Hardiman’s 
office, and his interview with that gentleman, Mr. 
Swanson dropped in at the Mason Cottage. 

He found Jennie and her father at home, and was 
given a courteous welcome by both. 

A conversation upon general topics ensued in which 
all three joined to some extent; and a very pleasant 
evening was spent. 

Mr. Mason was a man of wide information and a 
good talker — provided he had a good listener — and on 
this occasion he had a good listener in Mr. Swanson, 
and he led the conversation, though without excluding 
his daughter or their guest. 

Swanson was surprised at the knowledge of men 
and things, and at the breadth of thought exhibited by 
Mr. Mason, and enjoyed hearing him talk. Owing to 
the frequency of his former visits, and the length of 
time which had elapsed since his last one, he did not 
feel quite as much at his ease as under other circum- 
stances he might have done, and was rather glad to 
have another than himself direct the conversation. 

As always before, when in Miss Mason’s presence, 

167 


i68 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


he felt drawn toward, her, and was conscious of a 
feeling which he did not hesitate to acknowledge to 
himself was slightly warmer than that felt for other 
young ladies of his acquaintance. He had never 
thought seriously of allowing the feeling to grow upon 
him, but had, on the contrary always said to himself, 
and, as we have seen, on one or two occasions to 
others, that he should not marry Jennie Mason. 

To-night, however, as he watched her expressive face 
while listening to her father’s entertaining conversation, 
and occasionally, as she made some remark that showed 
how like him she was in depth of feeling and native 
ability, he could not help saying to himself that here 
was a woman in every way worthy to mate with the 
proudest in the land, and one who would be a true 
and able helpmate to him who should win her affec- 
tions and persuade her to become his wife ; and 
although he had intended this to be the last call he 
should ever make upon the Masons, he found himself 
at leaving, accepting with some eagerness, an invita- 
tion to "Call again,” and volunteering the promise that 
it should not be long before he did so. 

"If I had not put up that job on Old Hardiman, I 
half believe I would marry her,” he communed with 
himself, as he walked home through the moonlight, 
"that is, if she would have me, which I doubt. I 
couldn’t ask her now though, after what I have done, 
and what I told Hardiman. It would look as if I were 
as low down mean as Peters. Heigh-ho ! But this 
is a. funny world, anyway. Wonder if I shall ever 
marry, and who.” 

And the Masons — Jennie and her father. They could 
not be other than pleased with their guest of the 
evening. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


169 


Mr. Mason was far from being an egotist, but there 
is no one who talks well who does not sometimes 
enjoy having a good listener : and there was that in the 
respectful manner in which Congressman Swanson 
listened while Mr. Mason talked, that could not but 
be pleasant to a man who felt that he had some claim 
to the respect of his fellows, but who seldom found 
those of equal intelligence with himself who were 
interested enough in the subjects in which he took 
delight, to be good listeners. 

To be sure, Jennie was a respectful, and generally, 
an interested listener to her father’s conversation, no 
matter what the topic might be, but he could not feel 
quite the same pleasure in talking to her that he took 
in talking to, and receiving respectful attention from a 
man like Swanson, who was a representative of the 
busy, bustling world, from which, since the accident 
that had crippled him so awfully, Mr. Mason felt him- 
self excluded at just the period of life when his interest 
and activities should have been greatest. 

And so he had talked, and Mr. Swanson and Jennie 
had. listened, occasionally joining in with suggestions 
and observations, which were rather an encouragement 
to him to continue than an interruption, and thus the 
evening had passed. 

Without having said so to himself, Swanson had 
expected something to be said by father or daughter 
about the cancellation of the mortgage on the cottage, 
and was prepared to evade any questions intended to 
draw from him a confession of having been instrumen- 
tal in bringing it about. But no such questions were 
asked, and no allusion to the affair of the mortgage was 
made by Mr. Mason or his daughter, and of course Mr. 
Swanson could not broach the subject himself, since 


170 CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 

he had determined that his part in the matter should 
remain unknown. 

Thinking of it afterward, he realized that there was 
no reason why the Masons should mention the matter 
to one no more intimate with them than he had been 
of late and that it was only his own knowledge of his 
connection with it that had led him to expect it. 

He knew, however, that Hardiman had kept his 
word and cancelled the mortgage, for he had himself 
examined and found it properly done upon the mort- 
gage records kept by the county. 

What he did not know, and what did not occur to 
him as being a matter of any importance, was upon 
what pretended grounds Hardiman had explained the 
cancellation of the mortgage to Mr. Mason, to induce 
him to accept it. If he thought of it at all, he had 
taken it for granted that Mr. Mason would accept it as 
being an act of justice toward himself, from one who 
had wronged him in the past ; for Swanson knew that 
Mr. Mason felt that Hardiman had greatly overreached 
him in the transactions which had formerly taken place 
between them. 

And, in fact, that is the way Mr. Mason did regard 
it; and it was in something in that light Mr. Hardiman 
had offered it. 

The truth is that Mr. Hardiman had his own reasons 
for not being so much averse to the cancellation of 
the mortgage on Mason’s cottage as Swanson supposed. 
He had, in fact, and of his own motion, considered 
the possibility of doing so before Swanson made the 
demand — had thought of doing so upon certain condi- 
tions which he imagined possible, and provided it 
would assist him in attaining certain ends that he had 
in contemplation. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


171 


Although now past sixty years of age, he had never 
yet put a curb upon his passions, but on the contrary, 
as the years passed and he accumulated riches, had 
made their gratification one of the objects of his exis- 
tence, and the wealth which he squeezed from others, 
the means of gratifying them. 

He had long looked upon Jennie Mason with any- 
thing but honorable intentions; but all efforts at even 
the faintest advance beyond the liberty of address, 
proper from an employer to one employed had met 
with such evidently unsuspicious yet decisive rebuff 
as to destroy any hopes he had entertained of easily 
winning the girl’s confidence. 

Now he hoped by the surrender and cancellation of 
the mortgage upon the cottage that sheltered herself 
and her father to put himself in a better light before 
her, and in time, win her confidence and accomplish 
his dishonorable purpose. 

Accordingly, he was little averse to doing what 
Swanson demanded, provided he was allowed to do it 
in his own way, and was not made to appear as being 
forced to do it under threat of exposure. And whpn 
Swanson had promised not to permit himself to be 
known as having any connection whatever with the 
matter, had agreed to it and had kept his word. 

The day following the interview in his private office, 
he had written “paid in full and cancelled” across the 
face of the mortgage in red ink and had then gone to 
the recorder’s office and done the same with the copy 
of the instrument on record there, and had then given 
it to Miss Mason, as she was about to leave the office 
for home, after completing her duties for the day. 

“My dear Miss Jennie,” he had said. “I want you 
to do me a little favor — I want you to take this paper 


172 CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 

to your father. It is the mortgage upon the cottage 
where you live, and it is cancelled.” 

“Cancelled?” returned Jennie, surprised and not 
certain that she understood clearly the meaning of the 
word. 

“Yes — cancelled, my dear, which means that it is 
paid, or at least, that your father will never have to 
pay it. I see 3^ou are surprised, but there is no occa- 
sion for it. It is just possible you know that I am 
not quite so bad a man as some folks paint me. Your 
father and I were once friends and partners. We did 
not agree about some things, and I have imagined 
that your father fancied at times I did not treat him 
fairly. I have sometimes thought he felt that way, at 
least. Now of course I do not see things in the same 
light he does, but I have been prosperous while he 
has been unfortunate in all things, except in having so 
beautiful a daughter, and although of course there are 
no legal claims which he could bring against me, it is 
yet possible that there is a moral obligation resting 
upon me which it will take the cancellation of this 
mortgage to discharge. At any rate, I have taken 
pleasure in so regarding it ; and I trust it will give 
your father and yourself as much pleasure to receive 
it as it has me to do it ; and that in future, we may be 
better friends than we have been in the past.” 

To say that Jennie Mason was surprised at this 
exhibition of seeming generosity on the part of Mr. 
Hardiman is to put it altogether too mildly. She was 
overwhelmed, and for some moments could find neither 
words nor voice in which to reply. 

She had always regarded her employer as anything 
but a generous man. 

She had not supposed him to be even just or honest. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


173 


She knew that her father believed him to have taken 
unfair advantage in their dealings together, and she 
knew also that he had the reputation of being a hard 
man with his employes. 

She had entered his service with extreme reluctance 
and only because she was under the imperative neces- 
sity of finding employment of some kind, and could 
find no other place that she could so easily fill and be 
at home nights and mornings to care for the cottage 
and get supper and breakfast for herself and father. 
She knew of the existence of the mortgage, for she 
had saved of her earnings regularly to meet the accru- 
ing interest, knowing that a failure to do so promptly 
might result in a foreclosure, and eviction from the 
premises, and hoping, as people always will hope, 
even against all reason and precedent, that something 
would arise, some fortuitous event that would enable 
them to pay the principle soon to come due, and so 
save their little home. 

And now the mortgage was cancelled, dead, as she 
understood it, and would trouble them no more. The 
thing which she had hoped for when there seemed no 
reason for hoping, had actually occurred, and through 
the generosity of this man whom she had always re- 
garded as — if not actually an enemy — at least some- 
thing less than a friend. 

How they had wronged him in thefr thoughts, and 
how quick her father would be to recognize the fact 
and apologize to Mr. Hardiman for having so mis- 
judged him. And how happy they should be with this 
burden lifted from their minds. No more interest to 
pay. How noble and generous Mr. Hardiman was, 
and how meanly they had judged him. 

All this passed through the girPs mind as she stood 


174 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


with downcast eyes, struggling to control her emotion 
and holding the cancelled mortgage in her hands where 
her employer had placed it. 

At last she looked up and choking back the tears, 
tried to express her gratitude and her appreciation of 
the generous act of the man standing before her, and 
who now placed his hands upon hers and checking her 
broken efforts at expression of her feelings, gently and 
with what she thought to be a fatherly manner, bade 
her cease to think further about it. 

“There, there, my dear,” he said, “don’t thank me. 
Like enough it is no more than I ought to have 
done before. Who knows? It is a hard world at best, 
and we ought not to forget our old friends. I hope I 
know how to be generous even if I do not wear my 
heart where everybody can see it. Run on home 
now, my dear, and come back bright and early in the 
morning. It is pleasant seeing you at your desk when 
I come in in the morning, and I miss you if you are 
not there when I come. " 

And the old rascal gently pushed the girl through 
the office door and closed it behind her. 

Mr. Mason was as much surprised as his daughter 
had been when, on reaching home, she placed the 
mortgage in his hands and told him what Mr. Hardi- 
man had said. 

At first he was suspicious of some ulterior object 
underlying this seemingly generous act, and not a 
little disposed to refuse acceptance of the gift, at least 
not without himself seeing Mr. Hardiman and having 
from him an explicit statement that the cancellation 
of the mortgage w’as but an act of tardy justice — repar- 
ation rather than a gift — from the man whom he felt 
had wronged him in the past ; but Jennie was so happy 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


175 


in the thought that their little home was saved to 
them, and that now that they did not need any longer 
to save up for the interest, they could have many little 
articles of comfort in the house, and for her own ward- 
robe — running on about it with a nimble tongue while 
she prepared the evening meal — in her girlish innocence 
crediting Mr. Hardiman with all this suddenly acquired 
happiness, and repeating with unintentional exaggeration 
— the fruit of a grateful and overflowing heart — what 
he had sai4 about his past relations with her father 
and his desire to make full payment for the benefits he 
had received through that relationship — in a word, 
was so happy and so entirely void of all suspicion of 
anything but the most generous motives actuating Mr. 
Hardiman in the matter, that her father had not the heart 
to utter a word of suspicion; and, listening to Jennie, 
felt his suspicions gradually fading in the warmth of 
her praise of the man, and so dismissed all thought 
of refusing the boon that had befallen them ; and 
ended by writing — since he could not well walk so 
great a distance — a letter, thanking Mr. Hardiman for 
the act which, so he wrote : "Although it appears to 
me to be but an act of justice, is yet one of great gen- 
erosity also, since I have no claim that would be recog- 
nized in the courts of the country." 

And Jennie had returned to the office next morning 
"bright and early" as her employer had requested, and 
when he came in a little later, looked smilingly up into 
his face as she handed him her father’s letter of thanks, 
and tried to add some words of her own to what she 
knew her father had written. 

"You don’t know how happy you have made us, 
Mr. Hardiman," she said. "It has bsen such hard 
work to be comfortable and cheerful with papa all 


176 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


crippled up and the thought of losing the only home 
we have, staring us in the face.” 

And again the tears swelled up in her eyes and she 
dropped her gaze upon the desk in front of hejr. 

"Well, my dear, don’t say anything more about it,” 
returned Hardiman. “It’s all right — all right, only 
what I ought to do no doubt. The law is not always 
a just arbiter *and what the courts say is legal isn’t 
always all that men ought to consider in their dealings 
with one another. I am more than paid if I have made 
you happy — I am indeed.” 

And he laid his hand upon the girl’s head in what 
she regarded as a kind of benediction, and turning, 
entered his private office, leaving her to her own duties. 

If she had but known what was passing in the man’s 
mind, she would have left the office instantly, never to 
return. And if her father had known, crippled as he 
was, he would have crawled there and at least have 
tried to wear his crutches out over the old villain’s 
head. 


CHAPTER XVII. 


% 


THE PANIC, AND SOME OF ITS FRUITS. 

Money panic in New York. 

Faihire of J. Crook Co. 

Liabilities unknown but said to be up into the millions. 

The Metropolitan and Exchange Banks also close their doors. 

Great excitement in New York and other money centers. 

Cause of the panic and its probable effect upon the country. 

Associated Press Dispatch. — Wall Street and New York gener- 
ally were startled this afternoon by the report which spread like wild- 
fire that the great Banking House of J. Crook & Co., one of the 
largest in the country, had closed its doors and acknowledged itself 
unable to meet its engagements. The amount of the bank’s obliga- 
tions is unknown but is undoubtedly very large. - Various rumors fix 
it at various sums. In fact one can hear almost anything they prefer 
regarding it, from one million up to one hundred millions, as every- 
body is excited and the wildest rumors are afloat. 

The effect upon the country will undoubtedly be severe, as already 
the Metropolitan and Exchange Banks have suspended and announced 
their inability to continue business until they can ascertain how 
seriously they are affected by the failure of J. Crook & Co., with 
whom they have large connections. Other banks may also be 
involved and if so, the effect will be serious and far-reaching. 

The country generally, however, will not be greatly a sufferer, as 
the sudden panic is due to no failure of crops or any cause that can 
long continue, but is rather a flurry among speculators and will soon 
pass and leave the business of the country improved. 

Some annoyance to the business men may, and quite likely will,' 
follow the suspension of the banks, particularly if the panic becomes 
general as is predicted, by the more timid, but a little time and 
patience will remove all this, and the country wiU be the better for 
the flurry. 

W 


178 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


The above dispatch appearing in theSmithville Chron- 
icle, Bugle, and all other papers throughout the length 
and breadth of the country, caused feelings of aston- 
ishment and curiosity in the minds of a great jnajority 
of the people, and of anxiety and dread in the few. 

So persistent had been the declarations of the press 
and the politicians that business was fast getting upon 
a solid basis, and that a tide of prosperity was sure to 
speedily follow the period of gradually falling prices 
through which the country had been passing for some 
time, that this sudden failure of some of the largest 
banking institutions of the country, while it caused 
business men who understood, in some measure, what 
the effect of a general panic must be, to quake and 
tremble, only excited feelings of wonderment in the 
minds of the masses of the people, and especially in 
the agricultural districts, and among the rural pop- 
ulation. 

They could not understand how the failure of a 
private banking house in New York, or of any number 
of them, was going to seriously affect them, and when 
told that our financial system was such that the power 
to close down every factory in the United States, stop 
the wheels of production and throw the entire class of 
wage-workers out of employment, lay in the hands of a 
few men to whom Congress had given the control of 
the medium of exchange — when told this they laughed 
and refused to believe it, or even to listen attentively 
to any such nonsensical babble. 

“The United States,” they said, “had the best finan- 
cial system of any country in the world ; but that the 
exigences of the civil war through which we had just 
passed had compelled the government to inflate the 
currency ; that now we were steadily approaching 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


179 


specie resumption, and that as soon as this was accom- 
plished a flood-tide of prosperity would sweep over 
the land such as no country and no people had seen 
since the morning stars sang together.” 

They had been told this by the leaders of both 
political parties. They had read it in the great daily 
and weekly journals of the country ; not only the 
political, but the agricultural and religious press as 
well, had declared it, and they believed it ; and any 
one who said differently they regarded as a crank, and 
a rather dangerous character to be at large in society. 

Meantime the panic spread. 

Bank after bank closed its doors. 

From New York to Boston and Philadelphia, and 
from these great money centers, east and west and 
north it passed, like a bird of ill-omen, and wherever 
it alighted it brought desolation and death. 

Following the banks, came the suspension of the 
business firms, and after them the manfuacturers, who, 
finding no markets for their wares, and no means of 
borrowing money to purchase material or pay their 
employes, closed their factories, banked their fires and 
went into the hands of receivers. 

Two millions of unemployed men sought in vain for 
a chance to exchange their labor for bread, while eight 
millions of women and children waited and prayed, 
suffered and hoped and despaired. 

The country began to be overrun with tramps. 

Men out of employment and seeking it, out of money 
and stopping to beg a meal and permission to sleep in 
barns, or out-buldings, began to be seen daily, and 
many times a day, on all roads leading from one man- 
facturing town to another. 


i8o 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


Then the states began to pass laws for the suppres- 
sion of tramps. 

Pennsylvania led off ; and was quickly followed by 
other states ; and before long it came to be known 
that a man out of work and seeking it could no longer 
safely ask for the gift of a crust at any house within 
the limits of an incorporated town, or even at a country 
farm-house if an officer of the law happened to be 
within hearing of the request. 

Even to ask for the proverbial "cup of cold water," 
if the appearance of the person asking it was such as 
to indicate poverty and suffering, was liable to be 
followed by arrest and incarceration in a felon’s cell, 
or a ball and chain with labor upon the public streets. 

Such enactments and such arrests were demanded 
by the rich and respectable. 

For now, while the masses were daily growing poorer 
and poorer, while enforced idleness and rapidly falling 
prices were eating up, or had already consumed the 
savings of millions of the wealth producers of the land, 
the few who had directed the legislation of the country 
to this end, and for this purpose, were rolling in wealth 
and daily growing richer by a large portion of that 
which the business and producing classes were losing, 
and these men demanded protection of the law. 

"Our property,” they said, "and possibly our lives 
are endangered by the presence of these lazy and law- 
less characters, these tramps who roam about the 
country pretending to want work but in reality pre- 
ferring to beg.” And as the machinery of legislation 
was in their hands, or the hands of their dupes and 
tools, the politicians, "Tramp laws” were passed, 
and it became a crime for a man out of employment 
and out of money to ask for bread, 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


i8i 

Then greed, the meanest of all the passions, greed 
which consumes the souls of men as a leprosy the 
body, showed itself among the smaller politicians ; 
and those who were in office began to emulate the 
example of their political superiors and of the greedy 
souls that were back Of them and had dictated the 
legislation that had brought such awful calamnities 
upon the people and filled the land with suffering and 
woe. 

Petty officials, sheriffs, city marshalls and town con- 
stables began the nefarious work of arresting men in 
search of work and clapping them into jail for the sake 
of the profit that they made off the city or county on a 
few meals of victuals furnished to the poor fellows 
whom they had. thus transformed from honest men into 
“jail birds.” 

Af avorite wa}^ of these petty officials — these caricatures 
upon decent humanity — these jackdaw emulators of the 
larger birds of prey that were feeding off the vitals of 
the people, was to arrest as many “tramps ’ as was 
possible late on Saturday, so that they could not be 
brought before the mayor or justice before Monday ; 
and were thus compelled to live in jail from Saturday 
afternoon until Monday, which enabled their captors 
to charge up their board for that length of time. 

As the board necessarily furnished to “tramps” was 
not of the best, while the pay allowed for it by the 
Ring which run the affairs of the town or city, was, of 
the best, the profit on such transactions was consider- 
able — depending largely upon how energetic and suc- 
cessful the officers were in making arrests. 

As the arrested party had no remedy, even though 
found, on trial, to have a few shillings on his person, 
and not yet to have been reduced to the necessity of 


182 


congressman SWANSON 


begging, it was a perfectly safe as well as a paying 
business to “run them in;" and in many towns a 
regular and systematic business*^ was made of it. 

The result was what alone could follow. 

Honest men were transformed into criminals by the 
thousands and tens of thousands. 

To-day a manufacturing establishment failed and 
five hundred men were thrown out of employment. 

They sought it elsewhere in their own town or city 
and were unable to obtain it. 

All the other manufactories had closed or were 
running on half time and there were no vacancies for 
any one to fill. 

For weeks and months they sought for work ; living, 
in the meantime, themselves and their families, upon 
their previous savings, or upon what they could get for 
odd jobs — cleaning the side-walks from snow — splitting 
a bit of wood — carrying a load of coal up-stairs — any 
thing for which some kindly disposed person would 
give them a dime or a quarter, and then, when all 
their savings were exhausted, a rumor that some manu- 
facturing establishment in the next town was going to 
start up again — a rush of many to get a job, disappoint- 
ment to all or a portion of the eager seekers for work, 
and, out of money, with clothes old and worn, they 
continued their tramp in search of employment and 
fainting with hunger, begged for bread and — were given 
it in a cell of some county or city jail. 

A night, a day, two nights perhaps, a prisoner in a 
prison cell. 

Then the arraignment in court. 

The charge, “vagrancy, too lazy to work and caught 
begging. " The verdict : “Thirty days on the streets, " 
and the hellish work is done. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 183 

An honest man — a man eager for work and anxious, 
how anxious but for permission to earn a support for 
his wife and little ones, is arrested. 

A man with a heart full of bitterness at the awful 
wrong done him and his, a man with a blasted reputa- 
tion, a broken heart and a hopeless future is released 
when the sentence has expired, and one mote has been 
added to the number of professional criminals and 
tramps. 

A man with all the incentives to be a good citizen 
which family ties, wife, home, children give, which 
reputation for honesty and morality supply, left home 
in an effort to sustain that reputation and obtain by 
honest work the means of keeping those ties unim- 
paired ; — such a man was arrested but such a man was 
not released. 

But, in place of such a man, is released one without 
home ties ; for before this man with blasted reputation, 
this jail bird, can find the means of support for wife 
and babies, the family is broken up and gone. The 
grave or the asylum has opened to receive the wife, 
possibly she has accepted the offer of one of the birds 
of prey and has sold her honor and her husband’s 
honor for bread for herself and babies. Possibly the 
babies are in the foundling’s home ; possibly they are 
dead of hunger and want and cold. 

God knows ! 

The broken-hearted, hopeless, disgraced tramp and 
criminal, once their loving husband and father, never 
will know. 

For how could he, the tramp, the jail bird, without 
money, dodging daily the officers of the law who seek 
cause for his arrest — afraid to beg, yet compelled to 
beg or steal — how can he return and search out his 


i84 congressman SWANSON 

babies when they are scattered in the homes of others, 
in Poor Houses, in Foundling Hospitals? 

How find the wife in the kitchen of some bird of 
prey as a servant, or in some brothel as his mistress? 
How can he do this? 

Or if he could and did, how could he ask them to 
recognize him — the jail bird, the creature upon whose 
forehead society — the law — has placed its brand — ftim 
the “Tramp,” the convict, whose one limb still lags 
as he walks from the habit of dragging a ball and 
chain — how can he ask wife or child to believe in him, 
honor him, love him again? 

He feels that he can not. And if he could, to what 
use? Would it bring them bread? 

Could they live on their faith in his honor? on their 
belief in his affection? on this knowledge that he had 
been wrongly accused and branded? 

If he were to search for and find them it would be 
but to separate again — he to tramp, they to eat the 
bread of charity or of shame. 

Why should he seek them? 

He is not so foolish. 

He still seeks, for a time, to find employment with 
the hope — a hope that grows fainter and fainter, day 
by day — first of finding employment, and then of find- 
ing and re-uniting them ; but not for long does he seek. 

Soon hope departs ; courage flees — ambition dies 
within him. 

He is no longer a man. He is a brute. 

Without ambition, without hope, without courage 
as completely as he is without home or wife or child. 

The work of the conspirators is completed. 

Specie payment has been resumed, and these are 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 1^5 

some of its fruits ; though not all that the tree has 
borne. 

Other fruits there are which this tree has produced — 
fruits that look fairer to the eye — fruits that cast a 
sweeter perfume upon the air — but fruits as poisonous 
as these, and as bitter to the taste. 

But we will look at them by and bye. 

I would not uncover all the wrongs done the people, 
nor draw wholly aside the veil from before those who 
did these awful things, lest the people in their just 
wrath do that they should be sorry for. 

Wait! 

"The mills of the Gods grind slowly, but they grind 
exceeding fine." 

"Time," ^tis said, "rights all things." 

The fullness of time is almost here, when the people 
shall themselves draw aside the veil, and with staring 
eyes, look upon the awful wrongs done to them, and 
shall understand the magnitude of the crimes committed 
against them by the politicians whom they trusted so 
implicitly and so blindly. And by those who were 
back of the politicians, directing, inspiring and super- 
vising their hellish work. 


CHAPTER XVIIl. 

Mr. Swanson in Cotigress. The Bugle and the Chronicle are agreed 
regarding certain matters of local interest. Mr. Har diman fails to 
accomplish his purpose. He also fails in business. He takes 
revenge upon fennie Mason and her crippled father. 

Meantime Horace Swanson had taken his seat in 
Congress as representative of the people of his district, 
and was performing the duties of that position as other 
congressmen were performing theirs. 

That is to say, he was representing his party — the 
party of Respectability and great moral ideas. 

Other men represented a different party ; a party that 
made less claim to extra respectability; a party in fact 
that rather prided itself, when before the people for 
their suffrages with being just modestly self-respect- 
ing, but in no sense aristocratic, or what might be 
termed “stiffly” respectable. There was no superfluity 
of starch in the linen they exhibited on the hustings 
and before the voting public. 

For, as the one party sought to win votes by an 
appearance of great sanctity, and appealed to the 
religious and extra-moral sentiment of the country in 
order to conceal its crimes against morality, so the 
other party made a special claim to being the party 
of the common people that it might win their votes 
and hide its crimes against them. And now met 
together in Congress at Washington for the ostensible 

i86 


congressman SWANSON 


187 


purpose of legislating for the good of the country, 
they so managed, or were so managed, as to appear 
to be defeated in their efforts to render the people a 
service, each by the other; while, individually, mem- 
bers of either found an excuse for doing nothing for 
the relief of the people on the plea that they had acted 
throughout solidly with the party that elected them. 

A few of Swansongs constituents, led and advised by 
Mr. Nixon and Mr. Mason, had drafted a bill providing 
for a re-issue of the greenback legal tenders to replace 
those already called in and destroyed, and for the 
remonitization of silver, and had sent it to Swanson 
with a letter setting forth their reasons for believing 
that such a measure would bring an immediate revival 
of the drooping industries of the country, and urging 
him to introduce it and insist on its passage by 
Congress. 

To this, Mr. Swanson replied that lie would intro- 
duce the bill as requested, but that it was entirely 
useless to expect its passage with the present temper 
of Congress ; and that, in fact, he himself could not 
urge its passage as it was in direct antagonism to the 
policy of the party that had elected him, and whose 
representation in the House and Senate had in joint 
caucus, decided to favor a bill of exactly opposite 
import. 

“I regret,” the letter went on to say, ‘‘that I cannot 
comply any more fully with your wishes and views, 
which are in some measure my own ; but I feel bound 
to sustain the policy of the party to which — with the 
help of the labor organization — I owe my election. 
And, beside, is it not worth while to stop and inquire 
whether, having gone thus far on the road to a solid 
financial basis, it would be wise now to retrace our steps 


i88 


coi^gressmaK swansoM 


in any degree, since to do so must result in again being 
compelled to travel the same road at some other and 
not distant day. The great financiers of all countries 
have, and are, agreed that no people can maintain a 
permanent prosperity, except the medium of exchange 
be based upon the precious metals which alone have 
a value sufficiently unchangeable for the purpose. To 
accomplish this, it has been necessary that our cur- 
rency, unavoidably increased during the war to an 
extent that made these metals inadequate as a basis, 
be reduced in volume to meet the requirements 
demanded by a specie basis. And to this necessary 
contraction is due the present condition of the country. 
But we are now nearly at the desired haven. Specie 
basis has been nearly reached and renewed prosperity 
is but a step farther in advance ; and to turn back now 
would — in the judgment of the wisest men in both 
parties — be a false step and productive of untold evils. 

“To be frank with you, my own judgment sustains 
theirs; and while I shall regret it if our views do not 
harmonize, I beg you will still remember I am acting 
in harmony with the opinions of the great mass of the 
people and of the leaders of the party. In fact, the 
leaders of both parties are entirely agreed upon the 
main principles affecting the finances of the country, 
though disagreed as to the minor matters of detail ; and 
it is over these details that Congress is fighting — our 
opponents seeking to obtain an advantage for their 
party by making it appear to the country that they are 
preventing us from doing a great injustice to the 
people.” 

To this letter, Mr. Nixon replied : That while he 
had scarcely less hope now than when in company 
with Mr. Mason and others he drafted the bill Mr. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


189 


Swanson had received, that it would beome a law 
through action of the present Congress, yet he and they 
had felt it their duty as men and citizens to enter their 
protest against the system which was being fastened 
upon the country. 

“Neither do I now see," wrote Nixon, “that the 
opinion of the great financiers are of value to us as a 
nation of wealth producers, since they have themselves 
made it only too evident that their interests are, in 
their own opinion, quite different from ours. So much 
so indeed that what is desirable to them is quite unde- 
sirable to us. Neither is it true that the — so called — 
precious metals, gold and silver, are unchangeable in 
their commercial value for if you will compare their 
values with any other commodity, you will find that 
they are the most changeable of all commodities. 
And beside, nothing that is not sufficient as a basis 
for a medium of exchange in times of imminent peril 
can reasonably be declared a safe basis at any time ; 
since no nation knows at what hour an imminent peril 
may arise. And to be compelled not only to meet 
the peril when it arises, but also to change the basis 
of its medium of exchange in the face of the peril, is a 
folly that can be excused only upon the ground of a 
necessity arising from ignorance that the basis given 
in time of peace and prosperity is not sufficient in time 
of war and anxiety, which plea we, all of us, yourself 
included, are stopped from making, by the acknowl- 
edgment you have already made that the precious 
metals are not a sufficient basis at such times, if 
indeed at any time." 

To this Mr. Swanson replied by simply reiterating 
the statement contained in his first letter; that he was 
acting in fullest harmony with his party and must con- 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


190 

tinue so to do, though regretting that his views failed 
to accord with those of his correspondent and a few 
others among his constituents. 

It was about this time, too, that the Chronicle and 
Bugle were able to furnish their readers with another 
sensational article. This time it was a matter of local 
interest primarily, and not being political in its nature 
the two journals agreed substantially in the report 
concerning it. 

They announced simultaneously and with about 
equal display of head lines and length of editorial 
comment, the failure of “The Great manufacturing 
Establishment of O. L. D. Hardiman;” and the fact 
that by this failure, five hundred more laborers were 
added to the thousands of men already in enforced 
idleness in the country. 

Hardiman had struggled along longer than most of 
his competitors, and most other manufacturers of any 
kind. 

He was a shrewd manager, and had kept his business, 
as he thought, well in hand ; but collections had grown 
worse and worse, and sales smaller and smaller ; until, 
seeing the probability of being forced to suspend in 
the end anyway, he had decided to make the most 
that could be made out of the necessity, and had begun 
to hide away such of his property as it was possible 
to hide, and to increase his liabilities as much as he 
could without exciting suspicion, putting a large portion 
of it in his pocket, and ended by appearing in the 
bankrupt court in a shape much more to his own secret 
satisfaction than to that of his creditors. 

The news of the Hardiman failure cast a gloom over 
the entire community. 

There had been enough failures previous to this to 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 191 

enable people to understand its full meaning and im- 
port. Several smaller firms of manufactures had gone 
to the wall earlier in the season, and their employes 
were still out of work, and with little hope of soon 
finding any. 

And now that their numbers were inc^^ased by 
hundreds of Hardiman’s men, the outlook was gloomy 
indeed. 

Neither did the merchants appear less depressed by 
the failure than the working men. They had been 
carrying the unemployed laborers upon their books to 
a considerable extent already, not liking to refuse credit 
to n?en who had been their customers for years, now 
that they were temporarily out of a job; but what were 
they to do with these others who would now be under 
the necessity of asking credit also? 

So long as Hardiman’s men were drawing their pay 
regularly and spending it with the merchants, their 
trade helped them to carry those who were compelled to 
have credit; but now, when all must have credit, and 
none could pay costs, there seemed no way of contin- 
uing in business, and many of them surrendered at 
once and joined those gone before in the bankrupt 
courts. 

When Hardiman failed he owed his men a full 
month’s wages. 

Formerly he had paid everybody on Saturday night ; 
but when he conceived the idea of going into bank- 
ruptcy to save a portion of his fortune, he had planned 
to rob his employes of a month’s wages, and to accom- 
plish this, had changed his system from weekly to 
monthly payments ; so that when his men left the 
shop on the day that the failure was announced, they 
did so knowing that not only would there be no 


192 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


employment for them in future days, but that their 
labor for the past month was lost to them also. 

On that day, Jennie Mason had come home before 
noon with eyes red and swollen from weeping, and had 
told her father in explanation, that she should not 
return to the office any more, as Mr. Hardiman had 
failed, and there would be no more work for her there. 

What she did not tell her father was, that in com- 
municating the fact to her, Mr. Hardiman had accom- 
panied it with a shameful proposal, promising that 
if she would consent to be his mitsress, he would pro- 
vide handsomely for herself and father, and threatening 
that if she did not, he v/ould bring dire misfortunes 
upon them. 

At first Jennie had not understood what he meant 
by his offer of providing for them. When she did, she 
made no reply in words, but frightened and confused, 
had caught up her hat and darted out of the office and 
the house before the would-be betrayer could prevent ; 
and it was partly shame and partly fear of what her 
father — in his righteous wrath might do to avenge the 
insult to his child that restrained her from telling more 
of the story than was necessary of why she was not 
going back to the office. 

To her father, the fact that she had lost her place, 
and that there seemed now no way open by which they 
could earn their living, appeared to be sufficient cause 
for Jennie’s distress, and he tried to sooth her by 
holding out hopes of other employment and by remind- 
ing her of the fact that the cottage was at least free 
from incumbrance, and that with a shelter over their 
heads, they surely need not fear starving or freezing 
to death. 

Had he known the whole truth, he would not have 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


193 


been able to offer even this poor comfort ; but he did 
not know, and Jennie did not know the full capacity 
for villainy that the creature Hardiman’s heart con- 
tained. 

His threat of bringing disaster upon the Masons in 
case Jennie refused compliance with his wishes, had 
been no idle one. 

He had studied well every means by which he had 
deemed it possible to accomplish his purpose ; and his 
last resort was that of depriving her of every hope of 
an honest livelihood and of the shelter that she felt 
to be so securely theirs. And when Hardiman’s books 
were brought into court and his statement of assets 
and liabilities presented, lo, and behold! the name of 
James Mason appeared as a partner with Mr. Hardi- 
man in certan transactions connected with the estab- 
lishment that had failed; and the cottage in which he 
and his daughter lived, and which the mortgage 
released by Hardiman had once stood against, was held 
by the court to be the private property of a partner, 
and as such was liable for the debts of the firm after 
the property of the firm had first been exhausted. 

Hardiman had so fixed his accounts as to make this 
appear to be the true condition of affairs. Having 
decided upon his course, he proceeded accordingly, 
and had made such entries in his books as to make 
Mr. Mason’s connection with him appear to be that of 
a partner in certain of his transactions. 

There was the old partnership account between 
them closed long ago ; certainly so far as any inten- 
tion on Hardiman’s part of paying, or Mason’s of 
receiving any benefit from it ; but to this Hardiman 
had added the account of the value of the mortgage 

on Mason’s house which he had cancelled, causing it 
13 


194 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


to appear as his share of the profits of their joint 
transaction with others, and so making the property 
liable as has been stated. 

Against such a conclusion, Mr. Mason of course 
protested ; but the court refused to believe his evidence 
or that of his daughter Jennie, against the seemingly 
stronger evidence of Hardiman’s books; and poor 
Jennie found herself fearfully embarrassed, and her 
crippled father felt his anger rise to a pitch that was 
almost uncontrollable by the question put to her by the 
council for the creditors ; which question indicated 
that if her statement regarding the manner in which 
the mortgage came to be cancelled were true, it was 
the result of relations between herself and Mr. 
Hardiman not creditable to her. 

Hardiman’s revenge seemed complete. 

Not only had he caused to be taken from the crippled 
man and his child, the only bit of property they pos- 
sessed, but he had placed a blot upon the girl’s charac- 
ter that would make it still more difficult, make it 
almost 'impossible for her to obtain a living, however 
poor, except through the means he had himself proposed, 
and to which he still hoped to compel her to consent. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

**I(is our only hope, ” said Nixon, ‘ 'Agitate and Educate. *' Mr. Mason is 
suggested as the laboring men's Candidate for Congress. Which sug- 
gestion slightly worries his daughter Jennie, who thinks of Mr. 
Swanson. The rival papers of Smithville make another announce- 
ment. 

“We must educate the people upon these questions. 
Agitate and educate : this is our only hope as the 
means of saving the people from serfdom, the country 
from anarchy and civilization from final annihilation. ” 
The speaker was Nixon and, his auditors Joseph 
Mason and his daughter Jennie and three or four 
mechanics of their acquaintance, who had met for the 
purpose of consulting as to what could and should be 
done toward bettering the condition of the wealth 
producing classes who were fast sinking into serfs. 

The first flurry of the great financial panic was over 
some time since. The banks were beginning to resume 
payment, and here and there a manufactury of some 
kind was struggling to get upon its feet once more 
and begin business over again. But there were still 
thousands of unemployed laborers in all the cities and 
larger towns, while in the country the farmers were 
slowly but surely sinking deeper and deeper into the 
morass of debt and mortgages; and to men like Nixon 
and Mason, whose well balanced minds and clear per- 
ceptions of cause and effect enabled them to forecast 

195 


196 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


the result of the financial legislation of Congress past 
and present, the future presented a gloomy view. 

They felt, unless something could be done to induce 
the people to think for themselves, instead of relying 
upon their political leaders, that the Republic was 
doomed, and labor in the new world destined to be- 
come what it is in the old — simply a beast of burden ; 
an ass bearing whatever weights are placed upon its 
back j and for its reward and sustenance eating of the 
thistles growing by the roadside and in waste places. 

They were met now in the wretchedly poor shell of 
a house — consisting of two rooms only — into which 
Mr. Mason and his daughter had moved when compelled 
to vacate the cottage some months before. Even this 
shelter, poor as it was, they would have been unable 
to obtain but for the assistance of Mr. Nixon, who 
having been for some time foreman in the shop where 
he worked previous to his employer’s failure, had 
received good wages ; and being anxious to get into 
business for himself, had saved all he could, and at 
the coming of the panic and shutting down of the shop, 
was ahead several hundred dollars. 

When the great misfortune befell the Masons, he 
insisted on being permitted to assist them sufficiently 
to prevent the necessity of the crippled father going 
to the Poor House, while the daughter' sought employ- 
ment in somebody’s kitchen, which seemed the only 
alternative left them when their cottage was taken and 
Jennie could find no office work or sewing of any kind 
to do. 

*T insist upon it, Mr. Mason,” he had said when 
they hesitated through pride and fear of overburdening 
him. ‘T insist upon it both for your sake and for 
Jennie’s. We have been friends now all round for a 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


197 


long time, and I claim the right of proving that 
friendship is of worth in times like these. I have rented 
a bit of a shop down on Davis street, and am going 
to try and get some repair work to do, and with what 
I have saved up, I shall get on all right myself and 
can help my nearest friends a little. You shall take 
the house, which, wretchedly poor as it is, is better 
than none a good deal, and I will board with you and 
sleep at the shop. I shall have to pay my board some- 
where, and may as well pay it to you ; and I will get 
one or two others to do so, and by uniting our mites 
and living cheaply, we will get along without separating 
you and your daughter and by and by times will grow 
better again and then she will get employment and you 
can get a better place and be comfortable once more.” 

And they had accepted the offer with thankful hearts 
and a sigh of relief that even this escape from worse 
things was offered them. And so it came about that 
every few evenings some of the more intelligent of the 
laboring people dropped in to talk of the condition of 
the country and the prospects of obtaining employ- 
ment and of what was to be the fate of the laboring 
and wealth-producing classes in the years to come. 

There was nothing else they could talk of, for their 
present necessities and future prospects filled their 
minds completely. 

They had not yet reached the point long occupied 
b}^ the degraded laborers of sonie portions of the old 
world, where hope is dead and only brute instinct and 
brute passions remain ; and their minds were con- 
stantly occupied with plans for elevating themselves 
and their fellow workers to a better condition, and for 
preventing a recurrence of the panics which they had 
learned periodically fell upon the country and brought 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


198 

such suffering and tribulation to all except the few 
who profited by the misfortune and distress of the 
many. 

“Yes,” added Mr. Mason, taking up the conversation, 
“5^es, we must educate the people upon these financial 
questions. We must teach them what money is, and 
how and why it is created. When they have learned 
that the only legitimate use of money is to enable those 
who produce wealth to make exchanges among them- 
selves of what they have produced, they cannot help 
seeing that it is the duty of government to supply its 
citizens with the medium of exchange. And if it really 
wishes to be just and to make its citizens honest and 
keep them so, it will furnish the medium of exchange 
to the producers of wealth and to them only. For, 
since its only use is to facilitate the exchange of wealth, 
they only who produce wealth, or at least they first of 
all, have need of exchanging ; and if the medium — the 
tools of exchange — is not furnished them direct by govern- 
ment, they must hire it of those to whom the government 
does furnish it ; and thus the producers are robbed of a 
portion of their earnings. And, too, a means having 
been provided by which men can legally acquire wealth 
without rendering a service to others in return, the 
moral sense of the people becomes blunted, their ideas of 
rightand wrong confused andtheirsenseof justiceobliter- 
ated, until in the end they are incapable of self-govern- 
ment, possible even of being held together under any 
form of National organization, but split up into fac- 
tions, each led by some reckless and designing person, 
and each contending against each until the homogen- 
eity of society is destroyed, and men — no longer capable 
of uniting their efforts — drift back into barbarism.” 

“If I read history aright this has occurred at least 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSCTN 


199 


once and possibly many times since the world began. 
And the causes that produced the one catastrophe of 
which alone we have an account were unquestionably 
the same causes that are now at work in our midst ; 
namely, laws under which, and as a result of which the 
wealth produced by the many gradually passed into 
the hands of the few ; ending in the few becoming 
entirely insensible to all feelings of justice and equity, 
and the masses too ignorant to continue production, 
except upon the lowest possible scale, and too brutish 
to be led by other than brute instinct and brute 
force. ” 

“That is the way we are traveling now; and we are 
getting there at the rate of about sxty miles an hour," 
remarked one of the men who had been a brakesman 
on the railroad, but who was now out of a job. “Take 
the railroad companies for example ; they keep a lot 
of fellows in their employ for the purpose of shooting 
down any of their men who go on a strike and seek to 
keep others from taking their places, while the matter 
is being settled. They call ’em Pinkerton detectives, 
but they are nothing more nor less than a lot of cut- 
throats that the corporation hires to do its bloody 
work. What worries me, though, is the fact that 
our fellows have got so low down that they will hire 
themselves to do such dirty work ; but they will. Pll 
bet anything Pve got that if the Central road wanted 
ten thousand men for just such work as these Pinker- 
ton thugs do, they would gePem iii forty-eight hours 
by advertising their wants in a quiet way in Chicago.” 

“No doubt of it, not the least doubt of it in the world,” 
returned Mr. Mason, “it is exactly in line with what 
I was saying. The result of past legislation has been 
such as to confuse the ideas of the people as to what 


200 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


is right and what wrong, blunt their moral perceptions 
and cause them to look upon everything as proper 
that the law can be induced to sustain, instead of 
seeking to make the law sustain that which is right. 
And while doing this, it has also so impoverished 
the masses of the people, that they can — with their 
weakened moral principle — be lured to do anything 
the law will permit, and that anyone will pay them 
for doing, even to the shooting of their fellow men at 
the bidding of a corporation which they themselves 
know to be acting selfishly and with intent to oppress 
themselves and others. ” 

“Well, the only way out is to educate the people,” 
again put in Mr. Nixon. 

“We agree with you there,” replied another of the 
men, “but how are we to go about it? The other 
fellows have possession of the press of the country, 
and not only will not let us use their columns, but 
will themselves use them to misrepresent us and lie 
about us in every conceivable way. What can we do?” 

“Agitate and educate. It^s our only salvation. We 
must support such papers as will advocate our views ; 
we must talk in public and in private ; we must 
organize the workingmen and get them to thinking 
and talking among themselves. It’s a big job and will 
be uphill work but it has to be done. Election is 
coming on again now before very long, and we must 
put a ticket in the field and stand by it. That will 
help us call attention to the fact that everybody is not 
satisfied with the way Congress is doing, and so help 
us out that much.” 

“What about Mr. Swanson ; shall we support him 
again?” 

“So far as I am concerned — no! Nor any other man 


congressman SWANSON 


26t 


who will not make the contest squarely upon our 
platform and without any endorsement from either of 
the old political parties. I want a straight-out, square, 
stand-up fight ; so that we can present our ideas with- 
out holding anything back. Mr. Swanson is all right 
in his way and for his party. He means well, I think, 
but he cannot understand things from the position of 
the men who are down and being trodden upon. It 
isn^t in the nature of things, and we ought not to have 
expected it. This time we must take a laboring man 
or a farmer for our candidate, and we must make the 
fight without asking quarter or help from any party. ” 

“That’s the talk; that’s business,” commented the 
others, heartily. 

“But where shall we find our candidate? Suppose 
we nominate Nixon?” 

“No; you shall not nominate me,” returned Nixon. 
“I won’t have it. I can do more good by working as 
a private among the men in the city for somebody 
else. Suppose you take Mr. Mason, here ; he can’t 
get about to make speeches, but he can write for such 
papers as will publish our theories, and he can advise 
and council the rest of us ; and, anyway, we have no 
man whom we can nominate that i-s able financially, 
to make a canvass of the district ; so Mr. Mason’s, being 
a cripple, is nothing against him in this respect. 
About all we can do this time is to get a little start 
at organization and inject a few of our thoughts into 
the public mind. There is no probability of our 
electing any one for years to come. ” 

To the proposition of making him a candidate, Mr. 
Mason objected, urging his physical inability among 
other things ; but this objection had already been 
answered fully by Mr. Nixon, and it was agreed on 


202 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


between those present that a convention of laboring 
men should be called, and that Mr Mason^s name 
should be presented as their candidate. 

Jennie was a little in doubt whether to be pleased 
or not at the decision to make a candidate for Con- 
gress of her father. She could not but be gratified at 
the mark of confidence and esteem thus shown him 
by those proposing it, even though all knew there was 
not the least expectation that he would receive more 
than a few hundred votes. But then, Jennie had not 
yet put Mr. Swanson entire!)^ out of her mind and 
heart. 

Not that she loved him, for this she would have 
denied, even to herself ; but rather that the memory of 
him was pleasant ; and she felt that it would be a 
disagreeable thing to say to him as her father’s nomi- 
nation would virtually be saying : “We don’t trust 
you any longer ; we do not think you have done what 
you could to help the people in their distress, and we 
are going now to vote for some one else ; not indeed 
with any hope of electing him, but rather (so it seemed 
to her) as a punishment to 5'ou. ” 

Still she made no protest against the proposed action 
of the laborers ; indeed did not desire to make any ; 
for, while she disliked the idea of appearing to censure 
Mr. Swanson, she yet saw the wisdom of the course 
proposed by Mr. Nixon, and felt that justice to the 
working men demanded that they select a candidate 
who should fully represent their views ; and she knew 
that her father was such a man. 

She could not help wishing, however, that some 
other had been selected, that it might not appear to 
Mr. Swanson that they, her father and herself and Mr. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


203 


Nixon, were first and foremost in denouncing him, 
and in seeking to defeat his re-election. 

For who could tell what the effect of the nomination 
of her father or of anyone else by the laboring men, 
as a candidate entirely distinct from either of the old 
parties, might have upon the election? Which party 
would he draw from most strongly? 

This was what no one could know in advance of 
election, and what those who advocated independent 
action cared nothing about. 

"It makes no odds to us which of the old parties will 
be hurt worst,” said Nixon, in discussing the proposed 
action with a group of idle laborers, one day; "what 
we have to do is to spread a knowledge of our doctrines 
upon the financial question among the people. Both 
old parties are our enemies, and one as much so as 
the other. We made a mistake before in selecting for 
our candidate one who, because he was not thoroughly 
indoctrinated with our ideas, was acceptable to our 
enemies, who at once surrounded him with such influ- 
ences as prevented him from drawing near to us and 
becoming one of us in sentiment and spirit. What 
we must do this time is to take a man who is with us 
from principle ; who understands of his own knowledge, 
what the condition of the ‘wealth producers is, and 
why it is so. We cannot elect such a man now, but if 
we are true to ourselves, the time will come when we 
can. ” 

"Hurrah for Nixon! he’s right as a trivet,” put in 
one of the crowd ; "and I’m for a candidate that shall 
represent us and nobody else. ” 

"Here too, and here and here,” came from one and 
another of those standing about. 

"Well then, let’s organize a club and set the ball 


204 


congressman SWANSON 


rolling : come to my shop Saturday night and bring 
everybody with you that is in favor of what we pro- 
pose, and we will make a start. ” 

“Agreed : well all be there. ” 

The little knot of men separated, and Nixon sought 
out another similar one and proposed the same thing. 
And then to another and another, putting in all his 
evenings in this manner, and inducing a considerable 
number to agree to be present on the following Satur- 
day night and join the club. 

A good many opposed it, and favored acting through 
one or other of the old parties; Nixon met these 
arguments by pointing to Swanson, who, while owing 
his election in part at least, to labor votes, had done 
little or nothing for them, and was not likely to ; and 
urged that it was time the wealth producers of the 
country take matters in their own hands and legislate 
in their own interests and not in the interests of 
speculators, usurers and corporations. And so success- 
fully did he contend that on the night set for the 
meeting, his shop was crowded with men ready to join 
the club ; and when the time came for enrolling names 
full half a hundred added their’s to the roll, and the 
first independent political club of Smithville was born 
and christened. 

Arrangements were also made at the meeting for 
working up the laboring men of Smithville and other 
towns, and some talk was had of trying to interest 
the farmers and endeavoring to get them to join ; but 
a feeling that the interests of the two classes of pro- 
ducers were different, existed to such an extent that 
nothing was finally attempted in this direction, 
although Nixon and a few others urged strongly that 
the interests of all wealth producers were the same, 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


205 


and that a union of all was essential to the obtaining 
of justice. 

“Justice is a universal principle,” he said, “and 
justice to us cannot injure the farmers. Neither can 
justice to them fail of benefiting us. The laborers of 
the whole country must rise or sink together, and the 
sooner they learn this and enter into an effort to rise 
together, the sooner will all rise.” 

A notice of the organization of “The Smithville, 
Independent Political Club” appeared in the next 
morning’s issue of the Bugle, under the heading : 

“Getting ready to sell out again.” 

And in the Chronicle : 

“Threatened independent political action.” 

Both papers spoke slightingly of the movem.ent 
referring to Nixon as “a crank,” and to Mr. Mason as 
“a man whose ideas on finance were as wobbly as his 
legs. ” 

Yet in spite of this, and in spite of the efforts of the 
whippers-in of both old political parties to prevent it, 
other laboring men joined the club from week to week, 
and other clubs of a similar character were started in 
other places until the leading politicians were com- 
pelled to realize that if not checked the movement 
would soon become of sufficient magnitude to be 
dangerous to them and to the interests they represen- 
ted ; and they accordingly began laying plans to 
destroy it. 


CHAPTER XX. 


Doctor visits Congressman Swanson in Washington and imparts some 
disquieting information which causes that gentleman to pass a rest- 
less night; and later to confer with some of his brother Congressmen. 

“Doctor,, is this you? How in the world did you 
ever get to Washington? Came down to see if I am 
representing the folks up home properly — or just to 
see the capital of the country and what kind of people 
Congressmen and Senators and Presidents are?” 

Now, Swanson did not intend to say just this to 
Doctor — did not mean to ask if he had come to see if 
he, Swanson, was doing his duty. 

He had found Doctor sitting upon the broad stone 
steps leading up to the capital building, and the words 
had slipped out of his mouth before he was really 
aware of what he was saying — or at least had begun 
to do so, and were fully out before he realized the 
feeling that prompted them. 

However, they were said smilingly, and he had 
taken Doctor^s hand and was shaking it heartily while 
saying them. But when they were said, he wished 
them unspoken ; wished it because the saying of them 
impressed him, with a sense of not having 
represented the people of his district — that is, the 
masses of them, the wealth producers — as he perhaps 
ought to have done, and as he knew Doctor must feel 
that he ought. For he knew Doctor too well to 

206 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


207 


imagine that he would approve if he knew, of the 
position he had taken upon certain measures that had 
been before Congress ; and this suddenly running upon 
Doctor had recalled to his mind the people among 
whom Doctor lived ; the poor and the sorrowful ; and 
down in his most secret consciousness there arose a 
feeling — born maybe of his own sympathetic nature — 
that perhaps after all, the great financiers of this 
country and Europe were wrong ; and that Mr. Mason 
and Mr. Nixon and Doctor were right; and that he 
had all the time been acting and voting in a way to 
increase and perpetuate the evil times and the suffering 
and losses of the people. 

But with this feeling there came also a sense of the 
ludicrousness of the idea — of the fact — of Doctor 
having come to Washington — walking most probably — 
a thousand miles to instruct him upon matters of 
national legislation, and knowing how quick Doctor was 
to feel the slightest touch of redicule, feared that he 
might have expressed something of his sense of the 
absurdity and that Doctor would take his sally as 
unkindly meant and feel hurt at what he might think 
was a stab from the hand of him whom he called his 
friend. But any fear that Doctor would regard what 
he said as sarcasm and a slight put upon him, were 
needless. 

Doctor was too deeply engrossed with the object of 
his mission to notice particularly the language in 
which he was greeted, beyond the fact that it was 
kindly spoken. 

’ As Swanson had surmised, he had come a thousand 
miles, most of the way on foot, selling his “Prepera- 
tions" to pay for food and lodging wherever possible ; 
sleeping in the woods and fence corners when com- 


2o8 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


pelled to do so, dodging the towns and cities for fear 
of being arrested as a tramp, and had come all the 
way to Washington to tell his friend. Congressman 
Swanson, what the condition of the people was, and 
that a portion of the laboring-men in Smithville and 
other towns round about, would refuse to support him 
for re-election unless he could satisfy them that what 
he was doing and had done was in their interest and 
for their benefit. And instead of being hurt at Swan- 
son’s request to know if he had come to see if he 
was properly representing his constituents, he saw 
only the fact that Swanson had stated truly the purpose 
of his visit and thus saved himself the embarrassing 
necessity of doing so. 

He had been studying for days, nay weeks, upon 
how he should introduce the subject of his mission, 
how begin the tale which he had come to tell of how 
the people suffered and what the more intelligent and 
thoughtful among the laboring-men believed Congress 
should do ; and now with his first greeting, his noble 
friend — he whom he had come to see — had made his 
task easy; had indeed asked him to do that which he 
had come to do, yet feared, not finding a way to begin 
doing ; had asked to be told what the folks at home, 
the poor people, as Doctor construed it, for he knew 
little of any others, wanted their representative in 
Congress to do ; and his face that seemed to Swanson 
to have grown pitifully thin and worn since he saw 
him last, lighted up with a smile that had something 
inexpressibly beautiful in it ; as if the pure soul within 
had illumined the face with the light of infinite love 
and tenderness. 

“Yes; that is what I came for," he said eagerly, 
holding on to Swanson’s hand and glancing up into 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


209 


his face and then turning his eyes away as was his 
wont. "Came to tell you about how the people are 
suffering and what they think ought to be done. I 
knew you would believe anything I should tell you 
because you know I couldn’t have any reason for not 
telling the truth ; and I am so glad to have found you. 
I was afraid to go in, and have been waiting here all 
day and watching for you. They told me this was the 
way Congressmen come out when they left the building, 
and so I waited ; but I was beginning to fear you were 
sick and couldn’t come to the capital at all ; and I 
didn’t know how I was to find you, if you were. Of 
course I should have* found you some way, for, if you 
were sick I could take care of you, you know. Of 
course,” he repeated apologetically, "I know that you 
would be here in Congress, if you were not sick, and 
so I waited; but if you had not come pretty soon, I 
was going to ask someone if you were sick and where 
I could find you.” 

"Come, Doctor,” said Swanson, taking him by the 
arm, "come with me to my room. You look tired and 
worn out. You shall sleep to-night on my sofa as 
you used to do in Smithville ; and to-morrow, if you 
like, I will find you some good comfortable place where 
you can feel at home and rest up and see the city at 
your leisure. We will talk about the things you have 
come to tell me of when you are rested and feel like 
yourself again.” 

Congressman Swanson’s voice was a trifle husky as 
he spoke this to Doctor. 

The devotion to the poor displayed in the long tramp 
of a thousand miles, and, to himself in the simple 
statement of intention to hunt him up and care for 
him if sick, touched Swanson’s sympathetic heart and 


210 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


he felt no shame when he walked arm in arm with 
Doctor down the steps of the capitol and into Pennsyl- 
vania Avenue, where they entered a street car and 
rode as near to Swanson’s rooms as the car could take 
them, and then walked the short distance remaining. 

The rooms which Swanson occupied were in one of 
the many fine buildings in Washington devoted to 
renting by suites or singly, to Congressmen, employees 
in the various Government departments, and to those 
who may be temporarily stopping in the city for 
pleasure or business. 

In some of these buildings, meals can be had with 
the rooms ; in others no meals are served in the building, 
and the occupants of the rented rooms eat at hotels or 
restaurants, as they prefer. 

Congressman Swanson was in the habit of taking 
his meals at a restaurant in an adjoining block ; but 
on this occasion, he called the porter, who had charge 
of the building and sent him with an order for two 
meals to be brought to his rooms, and when they 
came, compelled Doctor to sit down with him, and, 
as he mentally expressed it, "filled him up” with what 
he rightfully surmised to be the first really full meal 
he had eaten in a good while — what was in fact the 
best and biggest meal Doctor could remember to have 
ever eaten. For Swanson had ordered pretty nearly 
everything he could think of, and the waiter had not 
failed to bring the entire list. 

After supper, or what in Washington, is called 
dinner, because, although eaten at about the usual 
supper hour in the country, is the heartiest meal of 
the day — after dinner then, and after the waiter had 
carried away the dishes, Swanson tried to induce 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


2II 


Doctor to lie down upon the sofa at once and rest, but 
he appeared not willing to do so. 

He had come for a purpose and that purpose he was 
anxious to accomplish — must accomplish now that it 
was possible, before he rested or slept. He wanted to 
tell his friend, his noble friend, his powerful . friend 
Congressman Swanson, what he had seen and knew of 
the condition of the people, and what they were think- 
ing and saying. He wanted to tell it because he had 
not a doubt that once it was told, his powerful friend 
would act in such a way as to bring relief to the suffer- 
ing poor ; that he would do all that any one man could 
do in that direction. 

To let the people continue to suffer for a single hour 
while he took a rest not imperatively needed, would 
have appeared to Doctor the blackest of treason to the 
poor ; and now that he was in the presence of one 
whom he believed had the power to do something for 
their relief, he would not sleep, would not rest, would 
not have eaten only that Swanson had insisted upon 
it, until he had done all that was possible for him to 
do — namely, tell the tale of poverty and suffering and 
woe, of sickness and sorrow and death, that had 
followed in the wake of the evil laws passed by men 
whose greed for riches left no room in their hearts 
where justice or mercy could find a lodgement. 

And beside this. Doctor wanted to tell his friend of 
the proposed action of the laboringmen of his district, 
that he might defend himself against the danger which 
threatened from this quarter ; not indeed by opposing 
them but by showing them that he was in fullest 
sympathy with them and was doing all in his power to 
obtain from Congress all that they asked or desired. 

For Doctor did not conceive it possible that Mr, 


212 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


Swanson held views or had cast votes in direct antag- 
onism to the views held by Nixon and others like him, 
for that anything or anybody could induce him to act 
in harmony with those who had framed the legislation 
from which had come such awful disaster to the pro- 
ducing and business interests of the country, such 
fearful losses to the many, such awful suffering to the 
poor. 

Doctor^s brain was too weak, and Doctor’s powers 
of imagination too undeveloped, to enable him to 
comprehend how it is that those who had framed the 
laws through whose action, panic and ruin and sore 
disaster had come upon the masses while they who 
framed or dictated the laws, grew rich beyond com- 
petition should be the ones who could be most safely 
relied upon to point the way out and to keep out of 
such troubles. He had not, I say, the ability to under- 
stand how those who had ruined the country and 
profited by the ruin they had wrought had thus proven 
themselves best fitted to shape the future policy of the 
government, and he could not, therefore, understand 
how men like Mr. Swanson, who were really desirous 
of doing justice to the people, could follow those who 
had wrought this ruin or see in them a wisdom and 
patriotism greater than that possessed by other men 
who proposed an opposite course of legislation for the 
future. And so seeing that his friend would listen, he 
told of how the working-men, were still out of employ- 
ment because the factories and shops were closed, and 
how these were not running because the farmers got so 
little for their products that they could not buy things 
as they had done when money was plenty and times 
good ; how many of the workingmen had become 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


213 


tramps and thieves, and how their families were broken 
up and their homes e;one. 

'Tve seen ^em myself, Mr. Swanson,” he said. ‘‘Tve 
seen ^em begging for work that they could not get, 
and Tve seen little children crying for bread that none 
of us could give ^em without we stole it ; and I have 
seen women holding their little babes to their breasts 
to warm them when there was no fire in the house and 
no money to buy coal with ; and it isn^t any wonder 
that the men become tramps and criminals; the only 
wonder is that they are as patient and good as they 
are. There is Mr. Mason now, and Miss Jennie living 
in an old shell of a house not fit for cattle to stay in, 
in real cold weather, and but for Mr. Nixon, they 
wouldn’t have had that; but Mr. Mason would have 
been sent to the Poor House, and the Lord only knows 
what would have become of Miss Jennie.” 

“Great God! Doctor, you don’t mean that, do you? 
Say you don’t mean that 1 I never supposed anything 
of that kind could have happened to them. How did 
it occur — I thought they had a clear title to the cottage 
they lived in?” 

Swanson had started to his feet on hearing this 
thing of the Masons, and now stood looking at Doctor 
with an expression upon his face that almost frightened 
him. 

“Didn’t they write to you about that?” he inquired 
in surprise ; “why I supposed you knew all about that. ” 
And he related the circumstances connected with the 
loss of their cottage by the Masons as he had gathered 
it from them and others. 

“The infernal old villian!” blurted out Swanson, as 
a full understanding of Hardiman’s acts and intentions 
dawned upon him. “He ought to have his neck wrung. 


214 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


and I think I will do it. The old scoundrel ; and to 
think I never heard of it!" 

He was pacing the floor now with angry strides. 

"Of course,” he said, stopping and addressing Doctor, 
"of course I heard of Hardiman’s failure at the time 
it occurred, and I knew that this would throw Jennie — 
that is. Miss Mason — out of employment ; but I never 
dreamed that any one could rob them of their house, or 
that Miss Mason could not find some other equally 
desirable position. Why did you not write me about 
it. Doctor?” 

I supposed Mr. Mason, or Mr. Nixon, or Miss Jennie 
herself, had done so, and there are so many, so many 
thousands needing help, I thought you could not help 
them all. Of course I see now why they did not write. 
They were afraid you would think them asking for 
help, and they were too proud to do that And then 
there are so many ; they knew you must have a great 
many whom you were helping, and they would not ask 
it of you. I don’t see though, why folks should not 
ask their friends for help when they need it. If friends 
are not to help each other when they need help, what 
is friendship anyway? They ought not to have been 
so afraid to let you know. They ought to have come 
to you at once and let you help them what you could, 
as I know you would have been glad to do. ” 

"Of course I would. There is no one in the world I 
would be more glad to help than Mr. Mason and his 
daughter. ” \ 

"Of course there isn’t!” echoed Doctor. "And there 
is no one they think more of than they do of you — 
though they don’t understand you quite as well as I 
do,” he added, remembering that Mr. Mason was 
likely to be the workingmen’s candidate for Congress 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 215 

in opposition to Mr. Swanson. "Folks had not ought 
to be so afraid to ask their friends for assistance. It 
isn^t fair to a friend to suppose he would not be glad 
to help you when you need it." 

Doctor was himself the most fearful mortal alive of 
letting his friends put themselves out for him, but 
he was not aware of the fact ; probably because so few 
people had ever offered to do it. But like many 
another loyal heart he felt it a pleasure to do for 
others ; and in theory, held that others would take a 
like pleasure in doing for him, being careful always 
not to put them to the test, but firmly clinging to the 
belief that if he did, his theory would be proven true. 

Doctor slept on Swansongs sofa that night, and 
Swanson slept not at all, or but very little. 

Doctor^s tale of the poverty and suffering of the 
people, affected him strongly ; and Doctor^s theory of 
the cause and cure for these had made an impression 
upon him which he could not dispel. 

For Doctor had explained his views at some length 
— saying always that "this was what Mr. Nixon or Mr. 
Mason thought;” which was no less true than that it 
was what he himself thought also ; for none were better 
posted or had clearer understanding of the cause and 
remedies for the evil times than Doctor, and he had 
expressed himself so simply and yet so clearly that 
Swanson had a better understanding of the whole 
question of economics and of the duties of the govern- 
ment than he had ever had before; and though not 
fully convinced, perhaps not quite willing to be con- 
vinced of the wisdom of the plans for relief proposed 
by Doctor and the workingmen, he yet felt himself 
unable to gainsay them, and was troubled by the 
thought that if they were right, nothing but evil could 


2i6 congressman SWANSON 

scome to the country from the legislation to which hm 
party was pledged, and upon supporting which, by 
voice and vote, he knew depended his re-nomination 
■to Congress by that party. 

“I wish there was no such thing as politics,” he 
muttered, tossing about upon his bed, "or party disci- 
pline or party caucuses. A man isnt a free man who 
is bound by party to act or vote as his party dictates. 
Party ties; yes, indeed, party chains, party manacles, 
party thumb-screws, the party lash. They are all there, 
and all in use. How could we keep the party together 
without them? And if the party failed to hold together, 
then we would go out of office and another party that 
is no better, would come in. I wonder if things are as 
bad as Doctor thinks? And the Masons! Damn Old 
Hardiman! I wish I had him where I could get at 
him for five minutes. Pd fetch him to time, and I 
will do it 3"et, if it loses me my re election — the old 
villain! Pll talk with Jones and Brown and Smith of 
our party again about these financial matters and see 
if something cannot be done in the direction suggested 
by Doctor and Nixon and the rest." 

And he did. 

The next day, or the next but one, he got Smith 
and Brown and Jones, all members of Congress, up in 
his room for a smoke and a glass of wine, and cautiously 
brought the conversation round to the financial question 
and a little anxiously led them to express an opinion 
regarding it.” 

He even went so far, hoping to get an honest expres- 
sion of opinion from his colleagues, as to declare that 
he "believed the Greenbackers were more than half 
right, and that the proper thing to do was to abolish 
the National Banks, and issue the money needed to do 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


217 


the business of the country direct to the people ; pay- 
ing it out in meeting the expenses of Government and 
receiving it back again (redeeming it) in payment of 
import duties and internal revenue taxes. ’’ 

And Smith and Jones and Brown united in saying as 
with one voice : 

“Oh, yes, that’s good doctrine but what is to become 
of the party if we were to seriously propose any such 
thing as that? Where will we get our campaign funds? 
Not only the banks, but every last corporation in the 
country of any importance, or that is able to help us 
in the coming Presidential election would drop us like 
hot cakes and go with the other fellows. We would 
be stranded high and dry, salted down and packed 
away in a box before the campaign was half over. 

“No use, Swanson — we understand how you are fixed 
up in your district with a lot of workingmen and 
farmers yelping at your heels and demanding more 
greenbacks, and we are sorry if they are going to give 
you trouble next election, but your only safe course is 
to stand by the banks. If you do not, you stand no 
chance whatever. They have the power to force every 
business man in your district to cut you, and they will 
do it if you go back on them. 

"The party is tied to its present policy on the finan- 
cial issue and it cannot get away from it ; and that 
policy, as you know, is to destroy what greenbacks 
remain just as soon as it can be done without provok- 
ing the people to open rebellion, and not to issue 
more greenbacks as your folks are demanding. Our 
only consolation is that the corporations have got the 
other fellows as tight as they have us, and that our 
constituents cannot accuse our party of being any more 


congressman SWANSON 


2lS 

in favor of hard money and hard times than the other 
party is.” 

“For my part,” said Brown, “I have ceased to think 
much about the financial queston. When I first took 
my seat in Congress, I did study it a good deal and 
came to the conclusion that the policy of our party 
was wrong and ought to be changed. But it couldn’t 
be done ; and I gave up trying and now I just watch 
our leaders on that question and follow them." 

“That’s the only safe way to do,” said Smith. "If 
you get out of line with your party, you are gone 
sure. The people won’t listen to you or sustain you 
if you oppose the party policy. But if you follow 
it you can always satisfy your constituents by pointing 
to the fact and saying : ‘Gentlemen, I may not have 
done what you or what I conceived to be the wisest 
thing that could have been done ; but I have done 
what the majority of the party to which you and I 
belong, wanted done , and what they considered 
necessary to be done in order to prevent the country 
from falling into the hands of our political opponents 
— than which no other disaster that could befall us 
is to be compared :’ That fetches ’em every time, and 
it leaves us in office ; and since the other party would 
do exactly the same thing, for the banks and other 
corporations that we are doing, I don’t see why we 
should sacrifice ourselves for the sake of a theory that 
might not work after all, if we tried it.” 

Doctor was not present on the occasion when the 
conversation narrated above took place. 

He had accomplished the purpose of his mission 
when he had imparted the information he had come to 
impart to his generous and powerful friend, and the 
second morning after his arrival, had departed before 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


210 


Swanson was up, leaving a note on the .table, thank- 
ing him for his kindness and saying that he had started 
for home. 

He had, in fact, left thus unceremoniously lest his 
friend Swanson should insist upon paying his fare 
back by rail, and so put to test his own theories of 
what a friend would be glad to do for a friend in need. 


CHAPTER XXI 


Congress adjourns and the members go home to mend their political 

fences. Why Mr. Swanson does not call upon Jennie Mason. Is 

Jennie in love with Mr. Nixon ^ 

Congress had adjourned and its members were at 
home among their constituents, and looking to their 
political fences. 

They had adjourned without doing anything for the 
relief of the stricken industries of the country, but 
instead, had made more secure and permanent the 
shackles already linked about the energies of the 
people. 

In the. accomplishment of this work. Democrats and 
Republicans had joined hands and acted as one party, 
but had concealed the fact from the general public by 
fierce contests over trivial matters and by struggles 
to gain some party advantage, the one over the other 
to the end that this or that leader or party might 
receive a larger portion of the spoils. And now they 
had adjourned and gone home. 

A presidential campaign was approaching. The 
regular biennial struggle to obtain or retain seats in 
Congress was at hand, and naturall)^ everybody who 
expected to be a candidate for re-election, wanted to 
be at home where he could council with his friends, 
watch his enemies and prepare for the coming contest 
in which he had so much at stake. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


221 


Swanson was at home and had been fully posted 
upon the condition of affairs in his district by the local 
political leaders of his party — the same men who had 
managed his former campaign and brought it to so 
successful an issue. 

The labor organizations, that two years before had 
been in the form of trade and labor unions, had now, 
under the leadership of Nixon, assumed, as the reader 
already knows, the shape of Political Clubs, bent 
upon independent political action ; and these organiza- 
tions had spread and increased until not only the 
district, but the state, was in a ferment, and an 
element of uncertainty had thus been injected into 
the political situation which necessitated caution and 
skill on the part of the bosses in the management of 
their respective forces. 

Although a week and more had elapsed since his 
return from Washington Mr. Swanson had not called 
upon the Masons, nor had he met Mr. Nixon: neither 
did he intend to call upon the one or desire to meet 
the other. 

His connection, if not his friendship for them was 
broken, and broken by them in a way which he felt 
was not altogether complimentary to himself. He 
did not exactly blame anyone for this. At least, he 
told himself that he did not — told himself that if any- 
body was to blame he was as much so as any one, 
ending his meditations upon the subject by declaring 
— for he was becoming something of a fatalist — that it 
was only what was to be, and that there was nothing 
to be done, and no use in thinking any further about 
it; that it was like the political situation and the 
condition of things generally ; something that had come 
about somehow, nobody knew exactly why or how it 


222 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


could have been different although nearly everybody 
wished that it were different. 

He had written Miss Jennie Mason a letter from 
Washington some weeks before in which he had 
declared that he loved her and made her an offer of 
marriage ; and not altogether to his surprise, and per- 
haps not greatly to his sorrow, had received a reply 
thanking him for the honor conferred, but telling him 
that she did not love him as a woman should love the 
man she married, and so declined his very flattering 
offer. 

And Swanson never knew whether he regretted 
having made the offer or not, or whether having made 
it, he regretted that it was not accepted. 

He knew that his love for Miss Mason was not of a 
very passionate character. That it was, in fact, rather 
respect and admiration than what is generally called 
love. 

He knew that his own ideas of right and duty were 
less exalted than were hers, and that he was incapable 
of sacrificing his own comfort, desires and ambitions 
for the good of others in the same degree that he knew 
her to be; and while, in moments of exaltation, he felt 
that her presence and her love would be a blessed aid 
in enabling him to lead the highest life possible to 
him, so also in his weaker moments, he could not help 
the feeling that she would possibly, and from this very 
fact, be a hindrance to him in his efforts to attain, or 
maintain, the position of ease and affluence, which he 
had learned to covet. 

He had made his offer of marriage under the pressure 
of feelings called in activity by Doctor’s story of the 
outrageous conduct of Hardiman toward the gentle 
girl whom be so much respected and so nearly loved, 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


223 


and if she had accepted him he would have been happy 
in her acceptance — certainly for a time — possibly for 
all time — but then, on the other hand he did not very 
deeply regret her refusal to do so. 

His pride was wounded a trifle but not badly. 
He had too perfect a knowledge of himself, of his own 
worth and unworth to make it possible for any young 
woman to stab him deeply through his pride. Her 
refusal made him a trifle less confident of himself for 
the moment, a little less inclined to jollity for a few 
days, a little lonely when he thought of returning to 
Smithville after adjournment, but he never once 
thought of himself as broken hearted or without hope 
and ambition in life. 

Nothing of the sort. 

He felt rather that he was in the hands of fate and that 
he had done his part; had given himself all the chance 
there was of coming under the good influence of a 
pure and noble woman, and that it was not to be, 
and since it was not to be, he was not accountable : but 
at liberty to make other plans and accept other 
means for getting the most comfort and pleasure 
possible out of life consistent with a reasonable 
regard for the rights of others, and to the extent 
which his own, as he sometimes expressed it, “infer- 
nally” sympathetic nature would admit of. 

After his return from the capitol, and when he had 
received from the local bosses — with such coloring as 
they chose to give to it — a statement of the extent to 
which the movement, headed in his own district by 
Nixon and Mason was spreading, the latter having 
been nominated by the Independent Labor Party for 
Congress, he could not help feeling a trifle better 
toward them, or refrain from expressing it in words. 


224 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


which, at heart, he felt to be unjust and untrue. But 
in the main, he credited them and those who were 
acting with them, with pure motives, and if he did 
or did not, believe in the theories which they advanced, 
he did not denounce them, as did others, as destructive 
of all government, neither suggest “sending to the 
stone pile” those who believed in and advocated 
them. 

He knew that he would be expected to oppose those 
ideas from the rostrum in his race for re-election to 
Congress ; that indeed his re-nomination at the hands 
of. his party hinged upon his readiness to do so ; and 
he knew that he should do it. Knew that he should 
do it, not because he thoroughly and earnestly disap- 
proved of them, or that he fully and heartily believed 
the opposite, but because he had no very well estab- 
lished views in the case and because fate seemed to 
compel it. And the fact that fate in this case took the 
form of the party bosses, did not appear to him to 
affect the case one way or the other. 

What mattered it to him in what form Fate appeared 
or through whom Fate spoke? It was the fact and not 
the surroundings which he saw ; and the fact was, he 
felt himself compelled to do as he proposed. And 
he called this fate, and yielded to fate as to one too 
powerful to be contended against. 

And Miss Jennie Mason — what of her? 

Did she feel no regrets at what she had done? Had 
she never loved Horace Swanson? Were there not 
moments, days, when she regretted having refused his 
offer of marriage? 

Possibly. 

Probably. 

It would be a very strong spirit indeed, that without 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


225 


experience in love or marriage, could live in the midst 
of such wretched surroundings as those to which Jennie 
Mason was chained, and not contrast them wistfully 
with those which Congressman Swanson could give 
her. 

And she had been in love with him at one time — or 
if not, then so near the brink of love that a declaration 
from him would have plunged her headlong into the 
abyss with no possible chance of ever again regaining 
the standing upon the banks above. 

But that declaration had not been made then ; and 
when it did come, and come unexpectedly and through 
the prosaic every-day-alike-and-no-romance-about-it 
channel of the United States mail, it was too late to 
elicit the response asked for. 

The bird that had fluttered so prettily in Jennie 
Mason’s heart with half intent to build its nest and 
make its home there, had taken flight and flown away, 
and not till other voice than that of Horace Swanson 
should beseech it to return would it come back and 
build and rest and rear its young in that fair temple. 

And yet Jennie had hesitated long over her reply. 

It was not in the nature of things that an offer of 
marriage from a man in the position of Congressman, 
to a girl with such surroundings and prospects as 
Jennie Mason’s, should not open up to her some vistas 
of temptirfg beauty, incite some longings to stroll 
through the green field and along the pleasant paths 
that arose in her imagination. 

Horace Swanson was a gentleman — she knew that. 
He was one instinctively and by education. His 
sympathies were quick, his nature gallant, his sense of 
justice stronger than that of many men. All this she 
knew and felt, and it was these qualities that, coupled 
15 


226 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


with his grace of manner had started the bird to flutter- 
ing in her heart in the other days, when she lived in 
the prettier cottage with her father and wrote all day 
in Hardiman’s office, when Swanson walked home 
with her from church or spent whole evenings in this 
poor little parlor — the parlor that seemed so poorly 
furnished then, but now so elegant as she compared 
it to her present surroundings. 

But she knew now that there was something lacking 
in Mr. Swanson’s character, which made it impossible 
that she should ever look up to and lean upon him as 
“the one man above all others whom she could love 
and trust. 

It was not that in her heart she accused him of 
having betrayed the workingmen, for she felt that such 
an accusation would be unjust. It was not that he 
had betrayed them, but that he seemed incapable of 
entering into their thoughts and feelings, of under- 
standing their needs, of rising to those higher heights 
from which the strong look upon the strong with 
neither fear nor envy, and upon the weak without 
contempt or willingness to profit by their weakness ; 
those heights where courage is as the air we breathe, 
and love for our fellows, the pure water with which we 
quench our thirst. 

So she had declined his offer of marriage, not with- 
out some feelings of regret both at the pain she sup- 
posed she was giving him, and at thus shutting with 
her own hands, the door that had opened to her and 
through which she might have passed from poverty 
and all that poverty means to such as she, to affluence 
and ease and social honors. 

Did she act wisely? 

Who knows? 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


227 


Were there other influeRces known or unknown to 
herself, prompting her to reject Mr. Swanson’s suit? 

Perhaps. 

Who can tell, if she could not? 

Or would not? 

She could not have been entirely oblivious of the 
fact that Nixon loved her; that he was devoted to her 
and ready to make any sacrifice for her which she could 
or would accept. 

But Nixon had never told his love in words, seldom 
in looks, but only in such acts as might equally become 
a lover or a friend. 

For Nixon, bold even to aggressiveness in defence 
of what he conceived to be his rights and the rights 
of his fellows, was timid as a girl in the matter of his 
love. 

Holding himself the equal of most men in natural 
ability, and fearless of meeting in defense of the rights 
of the people any who opposed, he thought himself 
almost totally lacking in those qualities which would 
awaken the tender passion in the breast of woman. 

He did not know that there is nothing which women 
so much admire in men as intellectual strength and 
high moral and physical courage. And it never 
occurred to him that Jennie Mason looked upon him 
as the embodiment of these noble qualities, and of 
gentleness and generosity, as well. 

True, he saw her daily at meals and often spent th6 
evening or a portion of it in the company of herself 
and the father. True that he assisted her, and that 
she permitted him to assist her in some of the labors 
which, as cook and housekeeper, occupied her time. 
If he ever left the house without having seen that there 
was water drawn for her use during the interval 


228 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


between meals, or wood split, or placed where it would 
be convenient to her hand, if he ever, while engaged 
in conversation with his fellow boarders, left the house 
without seeing to all these things, he never failed to 
remember it later, nor was in too great a hurry to turn 
back and attend to it. And she permitted him to do 
these and many similar favors. 

She walked with him to Labor meetings ; she 
strolled out with him now and again on pleasant 
Sunday afternoons, and would doubtless have accom- 
panied him to church but that neither of them any 
longer had clothes considered sufficiently respectable 
for that. And in all this he saw only a sisterly con- 
fidence and regard, and sooner than have imposed upon 
this, John Nixon would have cut off his right hand 
and maimed himself for life. 

And so whether Jennie loved him or not, or whether 
loving him she was aware of it or not, there seemed 
little prospect of them ever coming to an understand- 
ing about matters. 


CHAPTER XXII 


The canvass. Swanson again upon the stump, and again the victor in 
his race for Congress, Peters also retains his position and his fees, 
but changes his bosses. What has become of Doctor? 

. The whole country was aroused and excited over the 
partisan issues upon which the "Bosses” had again suc- 
ceeded in dividing the masses of the people. 

Both parties — "The party of great moral ideas,” and 
the other party that claimed to "always have the interest 
of the common people at heart,” had met in National 
Convention and adopted platforms essentially the 
same in all material respects ; both being bids for the 
support of the National Banks and the other great 
corporations of the country. Upon the stump, how- 
ever, and through the press, each attacked the other 
with the most intense virulence and bitterness, seeking 
by every conceivable means to arouse sectional hatred, 
personal animosities and partisan prejudices. 

But while their national platforms were essentially 
the same and in most of the states were made to differ 
only upon local affairs, in the state of which most of 
the characters introduced to the reader through the 
narrative were citizens, the state platforms of these 
two old parties were made to differ widely. The 
party of "extra respectability” made its state platform 
to agree upon national issues with that put forward 
by it in national convention. But the other great 

229 


230 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


party in state convention adopted a platform almost 
identically the same as that of the , Laboring men, or 
Greenback Party, which had also held a convention 
and put forth a declaration of principles and nominated 
candidates. 

In fact this young party had grown so rapidly and 
become so strong in this state that the leaders of both 
old parties had become seriously alarmed, and the 
Democratic leaders, with the consent and approval of 
their eastern bosses decided to appear to accept, for 
their party, in this state, the declaration of principles 
put forward by the disaffected of both old parties now 
rapidly rallying to form the Greenback Party. They 
were pledged by their national platform, and through 
secret promises made to the banks, to support any 
demands they might make upon Congress for further 
legislation in the interest of the corporations ; but they 
sought to conceal this from the people in this state, 
and spoke to them from a state platform in which they 
promised the relief demanded by the dissatisfied masses 
of the people. 

Then, having outwardly put themselves in accord 
with the reform party in the state, they cunningly went 
a step farther, and in all legislative and senatorial 
districts, where the Laboringmen or Greenbackers had 
nominated men they endorsed them and so bound them 
with obligations and promises, or so appealed to their 
ambitions, or so deceived them with false pledges and 
pretense of deserving reform that when the contest was 
over, the legislature convened and a ballot for United 
States Senator ordered, then men were found voting, 
not for a man who was generally in sympathy with the 
people, not for one who would have truly and faith- 
fully represented their interests in the United States 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


231 

Senate, but for the candidate of the party which had 
endorsed them that it might use them. 

These men were never again heard of in the politics 
of the state, but the man whom they had helped to 
elect to the Senate of the United States when he had 
taken his seat, kindly sent each of them a printed 
speech which he claimed to have delivered upon the 
floor of the Senate, in which he advocated the reforms 
demanded by those who had been their supporters and 
friends. And thereafter acted in full harmony with 
his party in support of the demands of the banking and 
other corporate interests of this country and Europe. 

The further result of the cunning displayed by the 
leaders of this party in appearing to accept and 
approve the platform of principles of the reformers 
was to almost entirely nullify their efforts at organiz- 
ation. 

Although Nixon and others were active, speaking 
constantly and scattering papers and leaflets sustaining 
their views upon the financial question, they could 
accomplish little since they were everywhere met by the 
leaders and whippers-in of the party that had stolen 
their platform with the assertion : 

“Oh, we are with 5’ou, we agree with you. There is 
no need of a third party to carry out the reforms 
demanded. Our platform is the same as yours and 
you can secure all that the farmers and laboring men 
are asking for through the Democratic party.” 

And when the fact that these were national issues 
and could be settled only through the Congress and 
Senate of the nation was pointed out, together with 
the fact that upon these questions the national platform 
of the Democratic party with that of the Republican 


232 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


party, and both with the demands of the corporations, 
the answer was ready. 

Oh, well,” they said, “we will fix that next time. 
Give us time to educate our folks down East a little, 
and everything will be all right. We are the party of 
the common people, and can be trusted to do them 
justice. ” 

And the people were deceived, and voted with them, 
and this party of false pretenses carried the state, 
secured the United States Senator, prevented the 
voters from uniting any considerable numbers in the 
new party and ended by delivering them, bound hand 
and foot, into the power of their enemies. 

The cunning of the politicians had prevailed; the 
object which they sought to accomplish had been 
accomplished. The people were again broken upon 
the wheel, and the corporations were again securely 
in the saddle. 

Neither in this state nor in any other, neither in 
any national convention nor in Congress nor the Senate 
of the United States did the Democratic party ever 
make another currency reform platform, nor seek to 
keep the people from out the toils of the money power. 

Out of all this excitement, out of the confusion and 
the turmoil and the filth, Horace Swanson emerged, 
again the victor, secure in fiis seat in Congress for 
another two years. 

Just how it was accomplished, or why he was not over- 
thrown in the contest which had left the state in the 
hands of the opposing party by a round majority, the 
chronicler of these events does not know, or at the 
best, can only surmise. 

Swanson was personally popular. 

He carried about him an air of good fellowship that 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


233 


drew men to him. He was sympathetic and responded 
readily to all appeals for help from whatever quarter 
they came. He went down into his pocket with equal 
readiness in support of home charities and foreign 
missions. The ladies admired his graceful manners 
and manly form ; the labcringmen could not be made 
to believe him other than their friend even though he 
did not think as they did upon these questions ; and 
when he made it appear to them that it was a close 
race between him and the candidate of the other old 
party many who had intended to vote for Mason on 
the reform party ticket changed their minds and voted 
for Swanson. And lastly, Swanson had the support 
and backing of shrewd politicians; politicians as un- 
scrupulous as shrewd, and well supplied with the 
sinews of war. 

Swanson told himself that it was fate, and he did 
not enquire too particularly into the causes which had 
induced fate to look upon him with favor. 

It was because it was to be. That was enough. 
Why bother himself about the details? 

He was glad that he was elected ; sorry for some 
things that had been done to accomplish it ; or rather 
was sorry that it had been necessary that such things 
should be done, and was determined to forget all 
unpleasant things that had been done during the 
campaign, and not to do any more unpleasant things in 
the future than he should be compelled to do. 

He had met Nixon but once during the campaign. 

Unintended by him, and perhaps so by Nixon, both 
had appointments to speak at the same place at the 
same hour, and on meeting, Nixon had at once 
challenged him to a joint discussion, which he had 
been ashamed to decline, and so had accepted with 


234 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


apparent readiness, and out of which he had come in 
better feather than he had feared ; for while he knew 
and to himself acknowledged, that Nixon had beaten 
him badly in the argument, he had sustained himself 
finely with jest and anecdote and so kept the crowd 
yelling and thus covered his defeat in debate. 

Peters he saw often : a great deal too often, in fact, 
for he disliked Peters exceedingly and the more he 
saw of him, the more he disliked and despised him. 

There was certain work, however, that the bosses 
declared had to be done that Peters or someone like 
him could do better than anybody else ; and so he was 
kept upon the roll of workers and paid partly in ready 
cash but principally in promises which the bosses 
intended to keep if convenient. 

He had been rewarded for his work two years 
previous by being made Bailiff in one of the courts 
and had subsisted and grown more obsequious, self- 
important and treacherous off the emoluments of his 
petty office and so was a better and more ready tool 
for the use of the bosses than formerly, and being 
himself aware of the fact, felt that he had reason to 
expect a better job after the present election was over. 

As, however, the party which he served, although 
successful in the District, was defeated in the County, 
it had no jobs of any kind to give, and Peters saw 
himself in imminent danger of being compelled to 
return to honest work for a living ; something, which 
after having done so little of for two years, appeared 
very distasteful to him, and at once he began negotiat- 
ing with the successful party for permission to retain 
his job as Bailiff, offering in return, to serve the 
bosses of that party as faithfully as he had formerly 
done the' others, and knowing the use they might have 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


235 


for just such a man as he was, they consented, and 
Peters was happy in the position which he thus 
retained, and in the consciousness which he had of 
his ability as a strategist and shrewd politician. 

Mr. Swanson did not meet Mr. Mason or Jennie 
during the campaign, nor, indeed during the entire 
time he spent in Smithville before the re-assembling 
of Congress, and his consequent return to Washington. 

Although the candidate of the reform party for 
Congress, Mr. Mason^s physical disabilities prevented 
him from moving about among the people, and 
naturally, Mr. Swanson did not call at his house. 

He saw Jennie once upon the opposite side of the 
street, dressed in a clean but badly faded calico dress, 
and evidently on her way to^^me market or grocery 
to purchase provisions of some kind ; but if she saw 
him, she gave no intimation of the fact ; indeed, could 
not properly do so at that distance, and Sw^anson made 
no effort to approach nearer. 

He noticed how poorl)'’ she was dressed, and his 
wrath at Hardiman was newly aroused, and he promised 
himself, as he had often done before, to “even things 
up for the Masons with the old villain yet,” and fully 
intended to do so, but the exigencies of the campaign 
occupied his attention completely during its continu- 
ence, and after it was over, although he made numer- 
ous inquiries as to Hardiman’s whereabouts, he could 
learn nothing regarding him beyond the fact that his 
wife had died shortly after his failure, and that Hardi- 
man himself had left town and gone — no one knew 
where. 

The factory which Hardiman had formerly owned 
and run, and which had passed into the hands of a 
receiver when he failed, was, now that after two years 


236 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


there was a prospect of getting a settlement through 
the courts — reported about to be sold to parties who 
would start the works going again ; which report was 
hailed with joy by hundreds of workingmen and every 
merchant in town. 

And this was all Swanson could learn, and all he 
did toward evening up with Hardiman before returning 
to Washington and taking his seat as a member of 
Congress. 

He returned too without having seen or heard of 
Doctor. 

Since the time he was in Washington, walking a 
thousand miles to acquaint Congressman Swanson with 
the poverty of the people, and warn him of the danger 
which threatened his prospects for re-election, he had 
not been seen nor heard from by that gentleman ; nor so 
far as he could learn, by anybody in Smithville. 

If he could have been satisfied that Doctor was all 
right and had simply switched off somewhere on the 
road between Washington and Smithville for the 
purpose of converting some back-woods settlement to 
his views upon reform questions, or even in saving a 
town from an epidemic of sickness by the gift of his 
preparation of herbs, Swanson would have been glad 
to miss Doctor’s presence. 

He knew that Doctor would not approve of the 
course he had pursued in the campaign — would, in 
fact, be broken-hearted at the sight and hearing of his 
powerful friend opposing not only the candidate but 
the principles of the reform party; and although he 
would have, and did, console himself by telling himself 
that it was something he could not help, or could not 
help without permitting a worse enemy of the people, 
namely, the candidate of the opposition party to get 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


237 


his seat in Congress ; although he would have so 
explained the necessity of doing as he did to Doctor 
had he been there, he was yet glad not to have to 
so explain. 

Had he known that instead of enlightening the minds 
of the people by talks upon the money question, or 
healing their bodies with his nostrum. Doctor had 
fallen into the hands of the law, been arrested as a 
tramp and put to breaking stone upon the streets of a 
Pennsylvania town, he would have felt less cheerful 
over his absence and would, no doubt, have taken 
immediate and energetic steps to secure his liberation. 

This, however, he did not know, for Doctor had no 
possible means of communicating the fact. 

True he had a nickle and two or three copper cents 
in his pocket when arrested, but these were not suffi- 
cient, in the opinion of the justice before whom he 
was brought for trial, upon the charge of being a 
vagrant, to justify his claim of having paid and of 
intending to pay for whatever he consumed, and so 
while sentencing him to thirty days on the streets, 
forgot to order the constable who had made the arrest, 
to return to him the nickel and pennies which he had 
taken from him while searching him for deadly weapons. 

And as the constable also forgot it. Doctor was left 
without so much as would buy a postal card wherewith 
to notify his noble friend Congressman Swanson, of 
his sad predicament and need of assistance. 

It was not that Doctor did not tell the boss that 
was put over the band of wretched convicts, victims 
of "the best financial system the world ever saw” that 
he had a friend in Washington, a Congressman who 
would take pleasure in paying his fine and securing 
his release, for Doctor did tell him. 


238 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


Not to have told it under the circumstances would 
have been to be disloyal to his friend, his noble 
friend, who agreed with him that friends ought not to 
be afraid or ashamed to ask assistance of friends in 
times of need ; and this was a case in which Doctor 
recognized the fact that he really and truly needed a 
friend^s help. 

If it had been only a matter of going without food 
for a day or even two days, or of sleeping out of doors 
at a time when the weather was not too severe. Doctor 
would not have considered it a case of sufficient 
importance to justify troubling his friend with, but 
this was one that did justify it, because it was one 
in which he could not hope to help himself. 

Accordingly, he had mentioned the fact of his 
having a friend who would help him if he knew; and 
asked the boss to secure the return of his nickle, 
or at least of the pennies, so that he might write his 
friend in Washington to come to his assistance ; but 
the boss only regarded it as a joke and laughed at the 
idea. 

A tramp with friends in Washington ! 

A Congressman the friend of a tramp! 

The idea was too ridiculous entirely. 

So Doctor continued to break stones on the streets 
of a Christian town. 

Swung the heavy hammers that were almost more 
than he could lift, through the long hours of the long, 
hot days, until it seemed to him that he could lift it 
not once more to save his life, yet at the gruff com- 
mand of a brutal boss, continued still to work on. 
Serving out his sentence as a tramp, upon the streets 
of a Christain town, in a country whose citizens boasted 
of their freedom, and^of the sacrifices which they had 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


239 


made of life and treasure to strike the shackles of 
slavery from the limbs of another race. 

And his noble friend, member of Congress, from 
the — th District of the state of — congratulated 
himself that Doctor was not by to disapprove of the 
position which fate in the form of party, compelled 
him to take with regard to the reformatory movements 
inaugurated by the laboring men and farmers of the 
country. 


CHAPTER XXIII 

Introduces "The Silent Member '' to the reader. Miss Jennie Mason's 

explanation of the uses of money. Agitate^ educate and organize. 

“It’s our only hope/’ said Nixon; “we must educate 
the people upon these questions. 

“Money is simply the tool by means of which the 
people transfer the title to commodities, to the thing 
which they produce by their labor, from one person to 
another, just as a wagon or a train of cars is the tool 
whereby they transfer the visible thing — the commodity 
itself — from one person or one portion of the country 
to another. 

“Such is the only use which the wealth-producers 
have for money ; but for this purpose it is indispensa- 
ble, since, without it they can no more exchange wealth 
than they could without wagons or steam cars. 

“Money is an imperative necessity to them ; and for 
government to reserve to itself the sole and exclusive 
right to make money, and then refuse, or fail to supply 
it at cost to those who, having produced wealth in one 
form, wish to exchange it with other producers for 
wealth in other forms, is as great a wrong to the pro- 
ducer as it would be for government to reserve to 
itself the exclusive right to make wagons and then 
refuse to supply the people with wagons at cost price, 
or to make the wagons and sell them at cost to a few 

240 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


241 


men only, and compel the rest to buy of these at such 
advance as they choose to ask.” 

"Your comparison is a good one,” said Mr. Mason. 
“John Stuart Mill defines money to be a kind of 
ticket or order, which the holder may present at any 
shop, and which entitles him to a certain amount of 
any commodity that the shop-keeper may have on sale. 

“Those may not be the exact words which Mr. Mill 
uses, but they are very nearly the same, and certainly 
carry his exact meaning. 

“The idea is, that money is a kind of certificate 
which says in effect that the holder of it has rendered 
a service to the community in some way; that he has 
produced something, which, not being in need of 
himself, he wished to exchange for something else, 
and had transferred his title to it to another, taking 
this certificate, this money, as evidence of the fact, 
and that now, having found the article he desires, and 
which is for sale, he is entitled to take it for his own 
use at the price asked, upon transferring his certificate, 
or money, to the party owning the article for sale ; 
who, in his turn, has the right to take any other 
article for sale by anybody else at the price asked, by 
transferring the certificate to him.” 

“I think that is the best definition of money I have 
yet heard,” returned Nixon. “The right to compel 
any one to accept the certificate, or money, in payment 
for anything offered for sale, constitutes the legal 
tender quality of money, and the justice of making it 
legal tender, or of compelling any citizen to accept it 
in payment of a debt, or of anything sold, is based 
upon the supposed fact of which the certificate is the 
evidence, that the holder of the certificate has pro- 
duced something of equal value to the thing he has 
x(> 


242 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


now purchased, but has transferred the thing which he 
produced to some other citizen, getting nothing of 
value in return, but taking instead, this certificate as 
evidence of the fact. He is therefore entitled to 
receive that much wealth on surrender of his certificate 
when he can find what he wants offered for sale by 
another citizen ; this person in turn, receiving the 
certificate as evidence that he is now the one who has 
produced and transferred his wealth without as yet 
receiving an equivalent. " 

“In that view of the case,” put in one of the others 
— they were all of them Mason’s boarders, and were at 
the supper-table — “In that case, I don’t see how any 
body who has produced nothing could get any of these 
certificates or money ; that is, unless they stole them, 
or had them given to ’em.” 

“They certainly cannot get it honestly — except it is 
given to them — unless they produce something of 
value ; something which some one is willing to give 
something for. Since no one is entitled to receive 
something for nothing, it is impossible that anyone 
should rightfully hold any of these certificates called 
money, unless he has produced something which he 
has sought to exchange for some other thing. 

““Since he cannot exchange that which he has pro- 
duced directly for that which he desires, he lets some 
one have it, and takes a certificate to that effect ; when 
he has found what he wants he takes it, provided he 
can agree with the owners as to its value. If they 
cannot agree on its value, he goes somewhere else, 
still looking for the article he wants. If they do agree 
he transfers his certificate or so much of it as has been 
agreed on, and takes the article. 

“While he held the certificate, it was evidence of an 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


243 


exchange begun but not completed. When it passed 
out of his hand, it indicates that the exchange has been 
completed ; and that, having received something which 
he regarded as of equal value to the thing he produced 
and transferred to another, nothing further is due him 
from any one.” 

"That looks sort of reasonable, but I don’t think I 
quite understand it yet.” 

The last speaker was a new boarder, who had never 
before thought or heard anybody talk about these 
questions; and so was a little slow in comprehending. 

"Let me see if I can’t illustrate what you gentlemen 
mean," broke in Miss Jennie, who stood waving a 
brush above the table to keep the flies away, and 
watching to see that the dishes of food were properly 
passed about. "If I can illustrate it so that the rest can 
understand it ; then I shall be certain that I understand 
it, too ; and I wish to understand these things very 
much. I think everybody ought to understand them, 
for everybody is certainly interested in them. ” 

"All right, Jennie, go ahead,” said her father; “I 
wouldn’t wonder if you could make it clearer than any 
of us. ” 

Jennie laughed a little and said she didn’t know as 
she could, but she was not going to let the men do all 
the talking, anyway, and so would try. 

"Here now,” she began, "is Mr. Nixon, who is 
making and repairing wagons ; then here is Mr. Brown, 
who works in the saw-mill ; and just outside of town 
lives Mr. Jones, who raises vegetables and things, and 
here are papa and I, who cook for all you men what 
Mr. Jones and his neighbors raise and bring, to town 
to sell. 

"Now, Mr. Nixon has made a wagon, but has no use 


244 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


for the wagon himself, he has nothing to haul in it, and 
it isn’t the kind of conveyance he would want to ask a 
young lady to go riding in. And anyway he has no 
horses to drive to it, so he wants to exchange the 
wagon for other things. He has to pay papa and me 
for his board, and he has to buy things to make more 
wagons of, and he has to have clothes to wear. But 
papa and I don’t want the wagon, and Mr. Brown does 
not, and Mr. Jones does not, and so Mr. Nixon puts a 
card with “For sale” written on it upon the wagon, and 
runs it out in front of his shop, near the street, where 
everybody that passes will see it ; and by and by a 
farmer comes along who has just sold a big load of 
wheat and buys the wagon and pays Mr. Nixon the 
money he got for his wheat. The farmer has thus 
exchanged his wheat for a new wagon ; Mr. Nixon has 
parted with his wagon, but has not got the wheat; has 
not got anything to build another wagon with ; has 
not got anything that he wanted in exchange for the 
wagon; he has just got some certificates which show 
that he did make a wagon worth as much as a load of 
wheat, and that he let the man who raised the wheat 
have the wagon, and took the certificates which some 
body had given him for the wheat. 

“Now, so long as Mr. Nixon keeps those certificates, 
money, he can prove by them that he has as yet got 
nothing for his wagon, and that somebody else now 
has the wagon, and that he is entitled to as much 
wealth in some other form as will compensate him for 
the labor and material expended on the wagon. So 
he goes to Mr. Brown, who saws lumber and they 
agree upon what the material for another wagon is 
worth, and Mr. Nixon says he will take it, and he 
gives Mr. Brown some money — some of the certificates 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


245 


which the farmer got for his wheat, and gave him to 
prove that he had made and parted with a wagon ; 
and Mr. Brown gave papa and me some of these, 
because we have boarded him ; and some he keeps to 
prove that he has not yet received back the full value 
of his lumber. And Mr. Nixon gives us some for his 
board, and we give some of them to Mr. Jones for 
meat and vegetables, and the rest of them to the 
groceryman ; and so we all make exchanges of our 
labor, or of what our labor has produced ; and he who 
holds these certificates, or any of them, holds them as 
evidence that he has not yet got back as much as he 
parted with and, is entitled to. Isn^t that it, Mr. 
Nixon — papa?" 

"That^s it. Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!" 

"Hurrah for Miss Jennie!" 

"She can make a better speech than any of you," 
came from one and another of the little group about 
the table, and they laid down their knives and forks 
and clapped their hands in laughing applause; at 
which, Miss Jennie laughed also, blushing as well 
behind the bush which she swung to and 'fro above 
the table, and so looked prettier than ever; which 
every one of her boarders would have sworn but a 
moment before was an impossibility. 

"Well, our only hope is to educate the people, " said 
Nixon, when the merriment had subsided, recurring 
to the remark with which the conversation had opened. 

"We must agitate and educate and organize, or 
another and worse panic than the one we are just 
beginning to recover a little from will come upon us 
by and by, and worse times than we have seen or 
known. 


246 congressman SWANSON 

"The government still continues to furnish the 
medium of exchange to the idle instead of to the 
industrious, which is a crime against the people, 
against society and against morals ; for these certifi- 
cates — this money — which, put into circulation in a 
proper way are evidences that the holder has performed 
a service to society for which he has received as yet 
nothing in exchange, becomes — when given to the idle 
— a lie on its face and a means whereby the idle are 
made to appear the better citizens of the two ; better 
than those who labor and produce. 

"Being given the certificates by government, the idle 
are enabled to draw at will upon the wealth created 
by the industrious, and thus drawing, they keep the 
laborers poor and make it impossible for them to 
properly educate themselves or their children, or even 
to so dress as to appear genteel or refined ; while the 
idlers have time for all these, and so appear even to 
the laborers themselves to be superior people whose 
example and whose mode of living it is desirable to 
imitate ; and so their ability to distinguish between right 
and wrong is weakened, their ideas of what constitutes 
justice between man and man confused, and their moral 
character broken" and destroyed, until at last they 
become incapable of maintaining even the form of self- 
government ; and a despotism, and finally, anarchy, 
and the death of civilization follows. And all as the 
result — the natural and inevitable result — of the 
criminal act of those who induce the government to 
give to the idle instead of to the wealth-producers, 
who alone have any right to, or legitimate use for it — 
the tool of exchange — the certificate of production, 
money. ” 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


247 


“That^s pretty strong talk, Mr. Nixon,” remarked 
the new-comer. 

“It’s true talk, though,” answered one of the others. 

“I can’t say but it is. It does look unfair for the 
government, which is supposed to be run in the 
interests of the producers and business people, to put 
their medium of exchange where those who produce 
can get it only by paying those who neither produce 
nor assist in the exchange, whatever they choose to ask 
for it.” 

“Well, we’ll change all that. Educate! Agitate! 
Organize!” said Nixon. "The time is not so very far 
away when the people will understand the use of 
money and how, through the workings of our financial 
system, the masses are kept poor, while the few be- 
come rich beyond anything that the wildest imagination 
conceived of a few years since. Then they will change 
the whole thing; the producer of wealth will be sup- 
plied direct by government with the means of making 
their exchanges one with another without paying tribute 
of so much as one penny to anybody. Then the wealth- 
producer will grow rich, the laborer will become the 
educated and refined and “respectable” member of 
society ; those who live by speculation and usury, if 
any there be, will be looked upon as we look upon 
card-sharpers, or as Christians looked upon money- 
lenders in the times of which Shakespeare writes — 
when Shylock complained of Antonio that he spoiled 
his business by loaning money as a Christian accom- 
modation. ” 

“How are you going to bring this about?” asked the 
new-comer. 

"Agitate and educate,” repeated Nixon ; “that's our 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


M8 


only hope, our only way. The people must be taught 
true political economy." 

"That’s all right, Nixon," put in one of the others. 
"That’s all right, and I don’t know of anybody who 
can do a better job of educating the people than you 
can — except Miss Jennie here. If I were you. I’d ask 
her to help me educate ’em. I’d ask her to take me 
and educate me now, if I wasn’t afraid to. " And the 
young fellow laughed with the others at his own wit. 

"She would get out of conceit with so dull a scholar 
as you’d be, Jo," said one. 

"Jo wouldn’t try to learn if he had Miss Jennie for 
a teacher. He’d be afraid he’d graduate and have to 
leave school before he wanted to," said another; and 
then they all laughed again, and Jennie laughed with 
them, and swung her brush and occasionally handed 
some of them a dish of food or re-filled their cups 
with tea. 

"Nixon’s the only man Miss Mason would take for 
a steady pupil, I reckon, boys ; he’s the lucky scholar 
that’s to get the prize at the end of the term, and you 
fellows might just as well give up trying for it, and 
play hookey, if you want to.” 

There had been a pause ; not lengthy, but sufficiently 
marked to cause this speech to seem abrupt and pur- 
poseful, especially as it came from one who, because 
of his habitual disinclination to conversation, had 
come to be familiarly known as "The silent member;" 
and as he gave utterance to the words, everybody 
looked first at Miss Mason, and then at Nixon, as if 
for confirmation or denial of the implied assertion that 
Nixon and Miss Mason were lovers, and would some 
time be married. 

Of course, Jennie blushed and tried to appear not to 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 

haye understood the purport of the remark. She 
swung her brush with vigor and tried to look at no one 
about the table, but when she did raise her eyes their 
first glance was at Nixon ; and from him she received 
a look that was at once one of love and eager 
questioning. 

Nixon had never ventured to permit himself to 
expect a return of the love he had so long entertained 
for the girl. He had told himself she was not for him, 
but for some one more polished, more learned ; some- 
one that could place her in the high social position 
which he knew she w’as so well fitted to grace ; but 
some way the remark of the silent member coming 
unexpectedly and from an unexpected source broke in 
upon the lighter chaff, in which they had been but 
a moment before indulging themselves, bringing 
with it a strange power of conviction. The language 
was not more direct nor the form of expression less 
light and chaffy than much that had been uttered and 
received as the lightest pleasantry ; but the words of 
the silent member impressed all as possible truth. 
And, strange to say, most of all they so impressed 
Nixon; and he first cast his eyes down as if to let the 
thought, the hope which the words inspired, sink 
into heart and brain ; and then raised them boldly, 
and questioningly in search of Jennie’s. 

Just in time, too, did he raise them for she caught 
his look with her own timid glance and read in it all 
she had long wished she might sometime read there. 
Read that she had the love and devotion of the m.an 
she had long since learned to respect and admire and 
love above all other men whom she knew or ever 
expected to know. 

And Nixon? 


250 CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 

Well, Nixon saw that which encouraged him to 
resolve to put it to the test and win or lose it all. 
The next day was Sunday; and though Miss Jennie 
appeared unusually shy and hard to approach, even 
for a moment when others were not by, yet Nixon 
persisted and finally found opportunity of asking her 
to go walking with him in the cool of the day, after 
their late Sunday dinner. 

‘T want to tell you something, Jennie," he said, "and 
I want you to go walking with me so I can tell it. I 
don’t know if you guess what it is, or not ; but I have 
wanted to tell it a great while. Will you go with me 
and hear it?" 

And Jennie had turned her blushing face away, and 
intimated in some manner that she would go though 
she hadn’t the least idea what he wanted to tell. 

But whatever it was that Nixon told and Jennie 
listened to that pleasant afternoon as they sat in a cozy 
nook on the bank of the creek that ran by the town, 
they undoubtedly came to an agreement about it that 
was satisfactory to both, for they looked very happy 
when they returned in the twilight. 

"Told ye so,” remarked the silent member, to one of 
the others, who, with himself, sat smoking their pipes 
on the steps, as Jennie and Nixon passed by them, 
with a nod to each. "Told ye so.” 

"Nixon’s got a life scholarship, and won’t never quit 
going to school nor take a vacation. He and Miss 
Jennie’s been agitatin’ and educatin’ and now they’re 
goin’ to organize.” 


CHAPTER XXIV 


The neiu seccret society is formally organized’, and the silent member 
prophesies increase of membership. The campaign of education and 
organization. 

Mr. Nixon and Miss Jennie Mason were, in the 
language of the silent member “organized into a secret 
society consisting of themselves,’’ about three months 
after the events recorded in our last chapter transpired. 
In other words, they were married. 

The ceremony was performed in the front room of a 
lit'tle cottage in one of the shadiest though least 
fashionable streets of the town. 

This cottage, Nixon had rented and into it had been 
moved what furniture Jennie and her father had; for, 
since Mr. Mason was of course to live with them, 
there was no further use for it in the little old house 
they were leaving. 

In addition to this, they had purchased — Nixon and 
Jennie going together to select it — a pretty though 
inexpensive carpet for their front room, together with 
some chairs and a sofa to match ; and it was here the 
young couple stood up to be married. 

A few of Jennie’s young lady friends, two or three 
older people with whom the family had always been 
intimate, and all their former boarders — including, of 
course, the silent member — made up the little assembly, 

in whose presence the ceremony took place. 

251 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


252 

To say that Jennie was very beautiful in her 
wedding-gown of simple white with roses at the throat 
and waist, and that Nixon was the happiest man in 
Smithville, is only to repeat what the reader has already 
surmised, as also that Mr. Mason was happy in the 
happiness of his daughter and in the belief that the 
man to whom he was giving her was in every way 
worthy of her. 

The reader will also readily imagine the many 
pleasant things that were said by those present on the 
occasion, and will not be surprised to learn that the 
men who had boarded with the Mason’s so long — some 
of them for fully two years — had made up a purse and 
purchased a pretty set of dinner dishes, which one of 
their number presented to the newly-made wife, with 
an expression of regret on behalf of the donors that they 
were no longer to take their meals regularly with 
herself and her father and husband, but declared that 
the crockery which they begged her to accept, was 
but her due, since they believed they had worn out 
and broken at least one full set, during the time they 
had been her most generously cared for boarders, and 
not forgetting to intimate that if herself and husband 
felt that this was not true, and that they had returned 
more dishes than they had broken, they would will- 
ingly come and take an occasional Sunday dinner with 
them, off of the new set, and so endeavor to make the 
thing entirely equal. 

At which, Jennie went into a flutter of delight. The 
dishes were so pretty, and she had wanted a set so 
badly, though she knew John — she called Mr. Nixon 
John now — could not afford it, and they were so good 
to give them to her, and she and John would be ever 
so glad to have them often to see them, and take dinner 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


253 


with them, to all of which John assented with 
beaming face and heart overflowing with pride in his 
young wife, who had so won the respect and esteem 
of his mates. 

He shook hands all round, telling them they would 
always be more than welcome and must not fail to 
come often ; after which, the silent member took him 
aside and solemnly, but in a voice sufficiently loud to 
reach those nearest, assured him of the pleasure it 
gave him to be present at the organization of the 
society ; and his belief that it would surely prosper 
and increase in membership, and accomplish much 
good in the world. 

And then they had cake and fruit, which Jennie had 
prepared, with the assistance of her lady friends, and 
which she insisted should be eaten off the new dinner- 
set in honor of its donors, after which there were other 
pleasant things said, and much merr}^ passing of jokes 
among the young people, and then everybody shook 
hands with the bride and groom and with Mr. Mason, 
and went away ; the young men walking off by the 
side of the young ladies, and Nixon and Jennie were 
left to begin their married life in their little rented 
cottage, without further fuss or ceremony. 

They were too poor to make it seem wise to go on 
a wedding tour. Nixon was now doing a fair stroke 
of business at his shop, employing one and sometimes 
two assistants. But times were still close, and coming 
as he did in competition with corporations having a 
capital which enabled them to manufacture with the 
greatest advantage, compelled him to sell at a price 
which but just about left him the wages paid to skilled 
workmen in the factories. 

Jt had th^ advantage, however, of leaving him his 


254 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


own boss and twe to speak and act as his own con- 
science and judgment dictated; hence, at liberty to 
contribute of his time and occasionally of his earnings 
to the work of education and organization of the 
people, which he held to be so essential to the future 
welfare of the wealth-producer, and indeed of the 
whole human race. 

He was now corresponding with other agitators and 
educators in nearly every portion of the country, and 
was constantly writing for the reform papers of which 
a hundred or more had sprung up in the different 
sections of the country during the last few years. 

These papers were nearly all little country sheets ; 
either that or equally small and poorly supported city 
publications, maintained in the former case, by private 
donations from individual reformers or out of the 
previous accumulations of their editors and publishers. 

The city publications of this class were usually set 
up by some one or more printers at off hours, or when 
not at work at the case for some more prosperous 
concern, which, by championing the cause of the cor- 
porations and the rich, was in receipt of an income 
both from subscription and advertising that enabled it 
to float easily upon the tide and put money into the 
pockets of its proprietors. 

Almost every week one or more of these little reform 
papers failed to issue, and its friends and subscribers 
knew that its patronage had been insufficient to meet 
expenses, and that it had suspended publication. But 
as fast as one succumbed, another somewhere took its 
place ; and the work of education and organization 
proceeded steadily though not without great sacrifice 
on the part of those who were engaged in pushing it. 

Every effort was made by the politicians of both 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


255 


old political parties and by the corporations and money- 
kings back of them to make the work of the reformers 
non-effective. So thorough was the organization of 
these old parties and so effectually had they poisoned 
the minds of the people and so persistently did they 
work upon their prejudice that even in country neigh- 
borhoods it was difficult to circulate a knowledge of an 
appointment to speak by one of the reform orators ; 
their bills being torn down ere they had been posted 
a single day, and reports that the speaking had been 
postponed or abandoned, falsely started, when infor- 
mation of the appointment had been in someway 
given. 

Every school district in every northern state had its 
local bosses, who worked under orders from the bosses 
of their respective parties higher up, and who made it 
the duty of the little bosses to watch for any signs of 
wavering in the voters and to endeavor, by any means 
known to politics, to prevent them from deserting to 
the reform party which now had its organization in 
every state and territory in the union, and was ready 
with its candidates and its platform of principles at 
every election. Not only this, but votes cast for 
reform candidates were not counted as cast. 

A favorite trick of the bosses was to discourage the 
reform voters by predicting that the vote for their 
candidate would be but very light, telling them it was 
a trick of the politicians of the opposite party to 
induce them to vote the reform ticket, and thus weaken 
the party they acted with, and that those pretending 
to leave the opposition party were not sincere, and 
would not vote as they talked, and then to appear to 
prove the truth of this prediction, by providing that 
the reform vot^ should be reported only in part, thus 


256 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


making the vote of the dissatisfied element appear too 
small to incite respect or investigation and those who 
voted the reform ticket to be distrustful of others who 
voted it, each thinking the other treacherous and 
seeking only to deceive them in the interest of one or 
the other of the old parties. 

The policy and power of the banks were also made 
manifest by the refusal to grant accommodations to 
business men cf any class or description, who patron- 
ized either, b}^ subscribing for, or inserting advertis- 
ments in reform papers ; and encouraging such journals 
and especially such agricultural and religious journals 
as would publish articles furnished or suggested by 
the banking interest, supporting their views and 
denouncing the reformers as cranks and criminals, 
whose theories upon matters pertaining to govern- 
mental affairs, were unworthy of consideration or 
answer by men of sense and understanding. And 
finally, whenever a labor reformer could be found 
with sufficient influence to cause his betrayal of his 
fellow reformers to have a discouraging effect upon 
them, he was approached with offers of bribes, either 
of money or position, and if found weak enough to 
accept, was paid his price and kept in the organization 
as a disorganizing force until his efforts in that direc 
tion had become so apparent that he could no longer 
retain his membership, and was either expelled or 
permitted to withdraw. 

All this was very discouraging to Nixon and men 
like him, who were giving of their time and substance 
in an effort to save the people from the results of their 
own blindness. But they continued still to work on 
and to find encouragment in the fact that slowly but 
surely, their ideas were spreading ; and that the leaven 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


257 


which they were sending out was gradually, at times, 
almost imperceptibly, but certainly, leavening the 
whole loaf. 

In the work of education too, Mr. Mason found 
employment and consequent contentment. 

He could sit at a table and write, if he could not 
get about to make speeches to the people. 

And this he did continually ; finally putting his ideas 
upon political economy into a small book, which, 
being published by Nixon’s assistance, and advertised 
in the reform papers, sold to an extent that not only 
enabled him to repay Nixon what he had advanced for 
its publication, but afterward brought its author a 
small income ; very small indeed — no more than a few 
dollars each month, but still enough to make him 
feel less dependent, and also that his labors for the 
cause of the people were beginning to be appreciated, 
and that the time v/ould come when they would be 
more so ; when indeed a full knowledge not only of 
the truths which he and others like him were teaching, 
should reach the understanding and hearts of the 
people, but when they should also perceive how bitterly 
they had been deceived and wronged by their party- 
leaders, who had made merchandise of their prosperity 
and their liberties ; selling them to the corporations 
and the money powers, keeping them divided upon 
sectional lines and partisan issues in order to prevent 
them from thinking independently or acting intelli- 
gently in their own interests as the laborers and wealth 
producers of the nation. 

North and South the people were still divided upon 
sectional lines, and south of the Mason and Dixon line 
but little work had b'een possible by the reformers, as 
the outrages committed upon the people of those states 
n 


258 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


by the carpet-bag government after the close of hostil- 
ities had been such as to embitter against the North 
even the citizens who had never been in hearty sym- 
pathy with the secession movement, and to make it 
difficult, almost impossible, for the reformers of the 
North to engage their attention or induce them to put 
the least confidence in any protestations of intentions 
to secure justice alike to all sections and all classes. 

The first, and for a time, the only reform speaker 
sent South, was run out of the state, which he had 
invaded, under threat of personal violence being done 
him if he remained, or attempted to again present his 
views in public. 

In this, as in all other obstacles in the way of 
spreading their propaganda, the hand of the politician 
was clearly visible to those who understood their 
“ways that are dark," and had suffered from their 
“tricks that are vain." 

These men, these politicians, these tools of the 
money power of the world, whose head is in Europe, 
and whose tentacles are spread over the whole earth, 
are coiled about every people and every individual 
producer of wealth everywhere ; these politicians, 
both Democrats and Republicans, sought by every 
means to keep alive the feelings of bitterness involved 
by the cruel war, and to term this hatred of brother 
for brother to their own personal advantage and to the 
advantage of those whom they served. Hence, when 
the reformers of the North would have ‘ sent their 
speakers to the southern states, bearers of the olive 
branch of peace and the banners of friendship and 
brotherly love, these men, these creatures, these tools 
of the money powers, saw in it the threat of coming 
disaster to them. For if the people of the two sections 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


259 


should come together and discuss in earnestness of 
purpose, and dispassionate language, their mutual 
interests, and their separate grievances, they would 
surely discover how they had been deceived by their 
leaders and would promptly dismiss them as they 
justly deserved to the obscurity that they dreaded and 
to the contempt of all patriots. 

Therefore, every effort of the reformers to introduce 
their ideas to the people of the South, was met by 
tales of the politician of its being an effort on the part 
of the Radical party to divide the white people of the 
South and revive the horrors of the carpet-bag govern- 
ment, and the people were incited to refuse to read 
the reform papers or even to tolerate in their midst or 
to permit to make public addresses, the reform speakers 
who honestly and truthfully sought to obtain equal 
justice for the people of all portions of the country. 

But, in spite of the hindering efforts of the politi- 
cians, in spite of sectional prejudice and partisan 
bitterness, the work of education went forward. 

Here and there in the South as in the North, some 
man among the people, of unusual breadth of intellect, 
some patriot and humanitarian, some one who saw 
through the pretense of these crafty demagogues, and 
read their true purposes beneath the cloak they wore, 
here and there some man caught the inspiration of 
the movement of reform and raised aloft the banner of 
the new dispensation. 

Every possible effort was made by the reformers 
North, to encourage the people South to believe in 
their integrity of purpose to do equal justice to all, 
and in the national convention, although the repre- 
sentation from the South was small and comparatively 
weak, they selected a southern man and an ex-con- 


26 o 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


federate for vice-President — putting him upon the 
national ticket, by the side of an equally gallant 
soldier who had led the boys in blue; and with these 
as their standard bearers went before the country upon 
a platform of principles which asserted the right of all 
men and women to the products of their own labor; 
insisted that the right to coin and issue money was a 
sovereign power residing in the general government 
alone, and that it was the duty of the general govern- 
ment to supply its citizens with the money necessary 
to enable them to make an exchange of wealth upon 
a cash basis ; denounced the national banking system 
as destructive of the liberty and prosperity of the 
people, and, generally demanded that the corporation 
be put under proper control and be no longer permitted 
to prey off of the wealth-producing and business 
interests of the country. 

The result of the contest which followed is a part 
of the history of the country, and needs not to be 
dwelt upon here. 

The means used by the leaders of the two old 
political parties and the power which was back of 
them, to crush the new party, are not so well known 
and will never be fully understood or appreciated by 
the people until they shall look back upon that page 
of our nation’s history in the day and hour when 
Success shall have crowned their struggle for industrial 
freedom, and the fruits of that victory shall lay at their 
feet and cluster about their hearthstones. 

When that time comes, as it surely will come, the 
masses of people, both those who supported and those 
who opposed the platform and candidates for the 
reform party in 1880, will look with feelings of shame 
upon the methods by which the politician sought to 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


261 


accomplish the destruction of that party ana to hold 
within the line of the respective old parties, the voters 
of the country. 

Misrepresentation, ridicule, bribery, threats, biill- 
dozing, ballot-box stuffing, miscounting or failure to 
count at all, the vote cast for the reform party, false 
report of the vote finally counted, making it appear 
less than it was, and too insignificant to attract atten- 
tion, these were a part of the means resorted to during 
and after the campaign to deceive, defraud and mislead 
the people and cause them to be and remain, the tools, 
even willing tools, in the hands of partisan leaders for 
their own undoing. 

Sectional hatreds were revived ; old tales of wrongs 
done by one section of the country to another were 
recalled and repeated, new ones invented and retailed 
from the stumps and through the Satanic press of the 
country. 

The "bloody shirt” was re-stained for the occasion 
and swung aloft before the eyes of the North, while 
in the South, the "nigger” was prodded until he 
showed indications of resentment or if not, was accused 
of it, and dragged into the newspapers if not into the 
arena to help excite still further the fears and preju- 
dices and hatreds of the people of the two sections, 
and the voters of the two old parties. Yet, out of it 
all, the Reform party came with colors flying; with 
the honor of the candidates upon the national and 
state tickets untarnished, and with an accredited vote 
of between three and four hundred thousand. 

It came with more than this. It came with un- 
diminished courage in the hearts of its leaders and its 
rank and file alike. It came with confidence unim- 


262 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


paired, and with its faith in the justice of its cause, 
and the final success of its principles increased. 

Throughout the entire campaign and in every state 
and district where it had an organization, it had held 
aloft its banner and had gathered at least a few devoted 
and intelligent followers. 

And nowhere had its opponents dared to meet its 
defenders in fair and open fight. Not once did the 
orators of either old party meet, in joint debate, those 
of the reform party although challenges to do so 
were kept standing in all reform papers, were printed 
upon every poster and bill announcing reform rallies, 
and sent in private and courteous communications by 
hand and through the mail to every opposition 
orator. Not once did their opponents meet them ; not 
once did they attempt by fair argument and reference 
to fact and history, to refute their position or disprove 
their statements. But by numerous innuendos,ridicule, 
false statements of facts, misrepresentation of the 
candidates and the platform, these statesmen (?) these 
leaders of great political parties, parties of moral ideas, 
of respectability, and the “funds of the people” 
conducted their campaign against the party of Reform 
and — lost. 

I say lost, for although they prevented it from 
reaching the great masses of the voters and kept the 
large majority of the people from understanding, or 
even greatly desiring to understand, its object and 
purposes, it yet failed to utterly annihilate it as they 
hoped to have done, but left it stonger in numbers 
and infinitely stronger in the faith of thousands of its 
members in the justice and wisdom of its purposes. 

It had reached in its leavening influence thousands 
who were yet in bondage to the old parties ; it had 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 263 

found and inserted an entering wedge into the solid 
South, it had proven and maintained the integrity of 
purpose of its leaders, the intelligence and incorrupti- 
bility of its rank and file, and had exposed to the 
country and to the world the corruption within the 
old parties hitherto hidden by a thin veil of pretense 
of patriotism, love for the people, the constitution and 
the flag of our fathers. 

"We will win yet," said Nixon, laying down the 
paper in which he had been reading the latest returns 
of the reform party vote, and going over to where 
his wife sat and kissing her. "We’ll win yet, sure. 
The old party papers have carefully refrained from 
reporting our vote wishing to make the impression 
that we cast none or next to none, but gradually it is 
coming out that we did cast a large one, considering 
all that we had to contend with. " 

"Educate and agitate," answered Jennie smilingly, 
returning his caress and looking up fondly and proudly 
into his face. 

Nixon laughed. He knew that his young wife 
believed him to be one of th2 noblest and truest of 
men, as he certainly was one of the kindest, most 
loving and appreciative of husbands ; and this sly little 
pricking at his enthusiasm, the smiling repetition of 
the words which were forever on his lips, whenever the 
reform cause was the theme of conversation, did not 
vex him in the least. 

"Yes, little wife," he -said, "agitate, educate and 
organize. It’s our only hope," and he bent over and 
kissed her again. 


CHAPTER XXV 


The tramp nuisance: Found dead under a hay -stack. 

The tramp nuisance. A new method of dealing with tramps that will 
likely have the effect of inducing them to avoid our city and community 
in the future. 

“The Sheriff of our county has adopted a new and 
somewhat unique method of dealing with the tramps 
that have of late infested our city and the country 
lying round about. Too lazy to work these miserable 
wretches have, during the recent severe weather, 
drifted into the city in large numbers and through 
their presence and their persistance in begging have 
become so great a nuisance that many of our best 
citizens, so our worthy sheriff informs us, have com- 
plained to him and urged upon him the necessity of 
adopting some means of abating it, and them. 

“Fines and locking up in the calaboose or city jail 
does no good — is in fact, just what they desire as they 
are thus secured from both cold and hunger, since it is 
not yet considered quite the proper thing to shut them 
up and starve them to death, though that might, after 
all, be the easiest and most humane way of settling 
the queston of what to do with these outcasts, to whom 
society really owes nothing. 

“However, our very efficient sheriff, thinks he has 
found the proper way of dealing with them and we 

264 # 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


2^:5 

have no doubt that if not interfered with, he will 
speedily rid the community of their presence. 

"On Saturday morning he, with the assistance of 
several deputies, gathered up such of the tramp 
fraternity as he could readily lay hands on, took them 
to the outskirts of the city, and after lashing each and 
every one of them in turn, with a good black-snake 
whip, laying it on thoroughly and well, until, in fact, 
the miserable wretches begged and plead to be let off 
and promised never again to be seen in the city or 
vicinity, they were allowed to go ; but with the assur- 
ance that if they ever returned, the dose would be 
doubled at the very least. 

"This may not be a strictly legal way of abating the 
tramp nuisance, but we repeat that it is likely to prove 
an effectual one and we do not doubt that our best 
citizens will sustain the sheriff and his deputies in 
any measures which they may find necessary to accom- 
plish this much-to-be desired result.” 

The foregoing editorial appeared in one of the 
leading daily papers of the Capital city of one of our 
central western states ; and was as well a statement 
of that which actually occurred as an expression of the 
sentiment of the editor of the paper, and, it is fair to 
suppose, of a considerable number of other citizens of 
that community. 

The tramps were taken as was stated, to the city 
limits and "well and thoroughly lashed.” 

They had been guilty as charged of having flocked 
to the city and for the most part with but one purpose 
and one hope — that of being arrested and confined in 
some penal institution where they would be protected 
from the terrible inclemency of the weather and sup- 
plied with sufficient food to stay the cravings of 


266 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


hunger until the severe cold should abate. Most of 
them had already served at least one sentence of ten 
days in the calaboose ; but as when they were released, 
the cold was still intense, making it quite impossible 
to sleep out of doors or in barns and straw-stacks, they 
still lingered about, begging or purloining from the 
citizens of the place such articles of food or clothing 
as opportunity offered, or charity would give, hoping 
thereby to sustain life until warmer weather made its 
appearance once more, or until again arrested and 
sentenced to another term in the county jail. 

But against this, numbers of the “best citizens” 
had protested, going to the sheriff with their com- 
plaints. 

If it had been summer time, if the ground had not 
been frozen so as to make it quite impossible to carry 
on repairs upon the streets, these wretched caricatures 
of prosperous humanity might have been made to earn 
their board and lodging by being put to work ; but as 
it was, anything done to prolong their existence but 
added to that which must be raised by a levy upon 
the property of the citizens of the county and city; and 
against this the “best citizens” protested. 

Some of these same best citizens had once before 
protested against retaining in their church conference, 
or giving a charge to one of their most eminent 
clergymen, who had felt it to be his duty to denounce 
from the pulpit, as also from the rostrum, the economic 
systems in force in the country ; systems which lie had 
declared were the cause of the evil times, and that had 
filled the land with poverty and suffering — and tramps. 

That they had not succeeded in doing so, but instead, 
had called the attention of thousands of people to his 
utterances and so drawn about him a faithful and 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


267 


admiring band of followers who bestowed upon him 
honors in return for the insults which the church and 
the “best citizens” heaped upon him was not their 
fault nor their virtue. 

Perhaps it was the memory of what this clergyman 
had told them, of why tramps were abroad in the 
land, and of their ineffectual efforts at punishing him 
for thus daring to reflect upon the wisdom and patriot- 
ism of these “best citizens,” who were supporters and 
defenders of these systems —perhaps it was the memory 
of these things which made them now so anxious to 
get the tramps away out of their sight since their 
presence must be a constant reminder of the truths 
told them by this clergyman and of their own ineffec- 
tual attempts to avenge themselves upon him. 

In this herd of wretched beings, among these tramps 
gathered up bv the sheriff and his deputies on that 
bitter cold morning, there were two in whom our 
reader will feel an especial interest. 

The one was a slightly-built, light complexioned 
man, in middle life probably, though it would have 
been difficult to tell much about his age by his looks, 
for he was bent, and wasted with exposure and 
disease, and he seldom raised his eyes from the ground 
in front of him. When he did, however, one could 
not help noticing how softly blue they were, nor how 
they seemed to plead for mercy for the poor body 
and the crushed spirit within. 

A pair of trowsers that showed the most careful and 
painstaking efforts to make them — not respectable in 
appearane, for they were long past that — but a cover- 
ing which should not expose any portion of his person, 
these and an old coat too large for him and which, 
though ragged in places, yet showed that it had been 


268 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


repeatedly patched in others, and under this a coarse 
shirt, composed the entire outfit of clothing of this 
tramp, excepting only that upon his feet. On these 
was a pair of patched and broken shoes, through the 
holes in which might be seen a covering of rags. 

As he walked, or stood, while other outcasts were 
being looked up and brought in, a hollow cough every 
now and then issued from his lungs and racked his whole 
body, and at times he staggered as he walked; while at 
every opportunity he sought the support of a railing or 
leaned against the side of the building by which he 
stood. 

If the reader does not recognize in this picture of one 
of societies outcasts him whom we have known as 
Doctor, it is because of the change in his appearance 
which has taken place since last he was among us. 

For this is surely Doctor. 

Of his wanderings since we last saw him, and after 
his release from the hospital where he was sent even 
before his sentence to the stone pile in a Pennsylvania 
town, we have space for but few of the details. 

Suffice it to say that he remained as a patient in the 
hospital, where he had been sent when it became evi- 
dent that he could not possibly continue to labor any 
longer at the rock pile, until in a measure restored to 
health, and had then been found to be so handy at caring 
for the sick, so faithful in following the directions of the 
physicians and others in charge of the institution that he 
was allowed to act as a kind of nurse, and in this ca- 
pacity he remained for some months longer, though with- 
out being put upon the pay roll or given any compen- 
sation whatever beyond his board and lodging. 

But for two things he might have remained here in- 
definitely; might eventually have been put upon wages 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


269 


as a regular employ^ of the hospital, than which noth- 
ing could have pleased him better, as he delighted in 
doing for others, and what little confidence in himself he 
possessed, and what little pride of ability was possible 
to him, found expression in doing, and showing a talent 
for doing well, for the sick and afflicted. 

His misfortune and the cause of his dismissal was his 
inability to appear to approve what was cruel even to 
brutishness in his superiors, and a firm adherence to 
the cause of the laborers that ended in a refusal to vote 
in a city election as directed to do by the local bosses of 
the party in power, and who, as a consequence of being 
in power in the city, had filled the hospitals and other 
charita]Dle institutions with officers and employes of 
their own party, pledged to do the work which might be 
required of them by their party leaders. 

An election for city officers was being held, and the 
bosses had informed those in charge of the charitable 
institutions that they needed the votes of every em- 
ploy^, and so far as they were able to go to the polls, of 
every patient in the charity hospital; and this informa- 
tion was imparted, among others, to Doctor, not doubt- 
ing that he would cheerfully comply; as what interest, 
beyond keeping a place where he was well fed and 
comfortable, could a tramp possibly have in an election. 

Doctor however refused compliance. 

‘‘Pd like to do as you ask,” he said to the Steward 
through whom the command to vote a certain ticket 
came. “Pd like mightily to accommodate you for you 
have been kind to me and kind to the others but you see 
I can’t. I belong to the Labor Party and as they have 
a ticket in the field, I must vote with them. It would 
not be honorable or right not to, would it?” 

The “would it” was uttered as a question which pre- 


270 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


sumed the possibility of but one answer and that answer 
an assurance that the questioner was right and in honor 
bound to vote his convictions. 

But Doctor’s evident expectation that this would meet 
the approval of the other and be accepted as sufficient 
reason why he could not vote as that other suggested, 
only provoked a stare of incredulity and surprise, 
followed by a warning that ^^such excuses didn’t go 
down with the bosses.” 

^ ‘Don’t make any bigger fool of yourself than nature 
intended you for,” was the advice with which the Steward 
closed his admonitions. “Yoti have got a comfortable 
berth here now and if you do what is asked of you, will 
stand a chance of being but upon the rolls as a regular 
employ^ with regular pay. If you don’t you will be 
bounced without ceremony, the moment those in charge 
of the institution hear of your refusal, and your place 
given to some one who will vote right.” 

And Doctor had thereafter gone about among the pa- 
tients with a heavy load upon his heart, doing for each 
whatever offices they stood in need of and which it was 
possible for him to perform. Bruised and crushed 
limbs he dressed as tenderly as the gentlest woman 
could do; fever-heated pillows he changed and turned 
and replaced under weary heads as softty as a mother’s 
hand had done; tired bodies were refreshed by his 
careful turnings, and skillful, because loving- adjustment 
of coverings. 

But on the day of election he was questioned as to his 
intention of voting the Labor ticket, and replying with 
humble mein but brave spirit that such was his duty to 
his fellows and such his intention, he was rudely and 
profanely told to “get” and not permit himself to be 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


271 


seen about the building again if he wanted to keep 
whole bones inside his body. 

So Doctor was again a tramp. 

That day his vote was challenged, as it would not 
have been had he marched to the polls with others under 
the lead of one of the bosses of the party in power. 

But if Doctor was timid and fearful of his fellows, he 
was also brave in the discharge of duty as he saw it, and 
he swore in his vote as he had a right to do, since he 
had been in the state long enough to acquire a legal 
residence and had no home elsewhere. 

Then after voting he wandered about town looking 
for work but not finding it. 

Once he was about to engage to do some servile labor 
for a citizen who appeared to have need of his services,, 
but after asking and receiving apparently satisfactory 
replies to numerous questions as to his ability to per- 
form the labor that would be required of him, the gentle- 
man suddenly recalled the fact that he had seen Doctor 
at the rock pile, and so refused to emplo}^ him. 

That night he slept in a pile of lumber on one of the 
back streets, and during the days that followed again 
sought employment, occasionally obtaining a job of some 
kind, and slowly and painfully laying up a small sum 
until he had secured enough to purchase the material 
for a few bottles of his with which he 

started out in the direction of home, as he always thought 
of Smithville. 

But the people had little money with which to pur- 
chase Doctor, though usually kindly 

treated in the homes of the poor, and he visited no 
others, was soon compelled to beg or starve, and so again 
came under the penalty of the law and was again arrest- 
ed, and put at ^york upon the 5tre^ts] was again dis- 


272 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


chargea, again arrested and discharged; and finally, 
having, after many months, arrived within what appeared 
to him almost hailing distance of home, was once 
more in the clutches of an officer of the law and of one 
who proposed to adopt measures that would effectually 
prevent the best citizens from further annoyance by 
tramps. 

Through the streets of a Christian city, past churches 
whose steeples pointed high towards heaven, past the 
costly residences of men who had sworn in the bankrupt 
courts that they had surrendered to their creditors all of 
their possessions, the sheriff and his deputies went with 
their “catch’’ of tramps, and upon the outskirts of the 
city applied the lash until the poor wretches begged for 
“mercy,” “mercy,” and promised not again to pollute 
the alleys and byways of the city with their presence. 

When Doctor’s turn to bare his person to the blacksnake 
whip came, he made no resistance; made no outcry as the 
cruel lash decended again and again upon his poor back 
and curled with biting sting about his emaciated body. 
Not once did he lift his eyes from the ground; not once 
ask for mercy; not once make a sign of any kind save as 
the involuntary twitching of the muscles of the exposed 
portions of his body showed the agony he was enduring. 
But when the lashing ceased and he w^s told to “get,” 
he staggered weakly away down the road in the direction 
taken by the others who had first received their punish- 
ment without so much as an effort to draw his tattered 
coat about his bruised and bleeding form. 

But we said there were two among these unfortunates 
whom the reader would feel an interest in. Doctor is 
one, who can the other be. He is a man who once 
owned and managed a large manufacturing industry, and 
worked and voted hundreds of laborers. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


273 


But a panic and evil times came upon the country. 
For a time this man struggled against the decline in 
prices and lessened sales due to the contraction oi the 
currency and consequent inability of the people to buy, 
and then, seeing the almost inevitable loss of his entire 
fortune staring him in the face, if he continued business, 
he did as many others had done before and did do after- 
wards; hid away all the ready money he could lay his 
hands on, in what he thought to be a safe place, and sur- 
rendered the remainder to his creditors through the 
court of bankruptc}^; intending, when everything should 
be settled and times began to revive, to begin over again; 
feeling sure with what he had saved, of being able soon 
to regain all and' more than he had lost. 

But like many another who thought he could measure 
in advance the full effect of the panic, he erred. The 
money which he had hidden away from his employes 
and other creditors so carefully was deposited under an 
assumed name in a bank in a distant state. 

Of the solidity of this bank he had not a doubt. No 
bank in the country was considered safer or in less 
danger of failing. 

Perhaps it need not have failed. 

Perhaps its officers thought it more profitable to fail 
than to continue business and take the risk of losses 
through their necessary connection with other banks, 
and with those business firms that had, in the past, been 
their heaviest depositors, but now were most persistent 
in their demands for loans to help tide them over thoir 
financial stress. 

Be that as it may the bank in which this once pros- 
perous and always shrewd business man, now a tramp, 
had deposited his hidden treasures, failed; and when its 
affairs were settled and those who had been appointed 

fS 


274 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


to settle them had paid themselves and the other necces- 
sary expenses of the settlement there was nothing what- 
ever left for the depositors; and the once wealthy manu- 
facturer v/as almost penniless. 

Then followed a long fit of sickness; and when after 
months of confinement to his room and his bed, he arose 
with shattered strength and courage to go out into the 
world in search of an opening for his talents (capital he 
no longer had), he found that even such talents as his 
were once acknowledged to be, were in little demand, 
and that demand more than met already by others who 
like himself had gone down in the financial maelstrom 
and were obliged to begin life again at the foot of the 
ladder. 

Younger men, many of these were too, and hence more 
to be desired as employes by those who had weathered 
the storm, or, having been successful in hiding away some 
portion of their fortunes were again struggling for their 
old place among the great business enterprises of the 
country, and who desired, not so much some one to 
plan, they could do that for themselves, as men of energy 
and vigor to rustle for trade; men possessed of the 
physical strength and endurance necessary^ to make 
rustling a success. 

For weeks this man sought for employment such as 
ihe was physically and mentally capable of doing, and 
jfaijed. 

.Ev^ywl;ier_e youpger an4 ^mprje energetic appearing 
^pien .wpre ahead pf hijn, or jvere given preference over 
him. 

Then followed another spell of sickness, ^^a relapse,” 
the physician said, and this time he was sent to the hos- 
pital; the city hospital; the hospital maintained by the 
^authorities of the city aided by donations from the char- 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


275 


itable; and when, months later, he left his cot and with 
trembling limbs and weakened mental faculties stood 
once more in the streets of the city where his hidden 
savings had been sucked in by the broken bank, no one 
would for a moment think of giving him a place of any 
kind where either skill or address were necessary to 
success. And broken and desperate, cursing his fate 
and those who had brought it upon him, he turned away 
and walked out of the city and struck the country road 
— a tramp. 

And now it is his time — the last man, in the crowd of 
wretches which the sheriff is torturing, to receive the 
lash. 

With a swirl and a swish the whip cuts the keen 
wintry air and descends upon the bared back of the 
tramp. 

He answers with an oath, and with writhings seeks to 
free himself from the ropes that bind him. 

Again the swish and swirl, the cruel blow, and the 
answering curse. 

Again and again, and yet a score of times the whip 
rises and falls and the wretched being whose back is 
being lacerated grinds his teeth, and with horrid oaths 
and foaming lips struggles to burst his bonds. 

But they are too strong for his old limbs to break; 
and at last he sinks down in a faint. 

Then he is released; and when revived is told to ‘^go” 
as the others have done; and like them he staggers 
down the country road and the officers and his deputies 
return to the city to re-assure the ^ffiest citizens” with a 
report of their confidence in the entire success of the new 
method of dealing with the tramp nuisance. 

Two weeks later a country paper published a score or 


276 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


SO of miles away from the city had the following in its 
weekly issue: 

Found dead under a haystackF 

^‘As John Jones, a resident of Morris Tp., was cross- 
ing the field of his neighbor, Robert Bly, on Thursday 
of this week, his attention was attracted by what at first 
appeared an old garment of some kind fluttering in the 
wind by the side of a rick of hay which had not yet been 
removed to the barn. 

“On closer inspection, however, he was horrified to find 
the dead bodies of two men, evidently tramps, who had 
doubtless sought temporary shelter from the cold by 
crawling under the hay, of which they had managed to 
pull a quantity from the stack, and, after piling it up 
against one side of the stack itself, had crawled under it. 

“Evidently the cold increased after they had thusTaken 
refuge against it and they probably became numbed 
without being aware of it and so continued until they 
froze to death. 

“Nothing was found upon either of the men to indicate 
who they were or what brought them to the condition 
they were in, though, curiously enough there was found 
pinned to the inside of the coat of the smaller and 
younger of the two a letter with the following address: 

Hon. Horace Swanson, 

H. R. Washington, D. C/’ 

“Whether it is possible that a dead tramp had written 
the letter himself with intention of mailing it when op- 
portunity offered, or whether he had found or stolen it is 
a matter for conjecture only, as the coroner’s jury which 
was called to set upon the bodies decided that they had 
no right to open and examine the contents, but instead 
placed it in the mails to be forwarded as addressed. 

“The letter had evidently been carried in the position 
in which it was found for a considerable time; as it was 
much crumpled and soiled. 

“Both men were meanly clad and both bore evidence 
upon their persons of having recently been treated to a 
flagellation of some kind. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


277 


has been suggested that they had recently been 
caught in some act of petty burglary or something of the 
sort by some one who thought it 'well to save the com- 
munity the expense of a legal trial and legal punishment, 
and so had, with the assistance probably of some of his 
neighbors, proceeded to mete out justice with his own 
hand. 

^‘It may have been the knowledge that they were still 
liable to arrest for their crime which prevented the 
tramps from applying for shelter at some farm house. 

‘ ‘One of these unfortunate men who has thus lost his life, 
was apparently not much if any past the prime of man- 
hood, but had the appearance of being of weakly body if 
not positively ill before his death. The other was much 
older but had evidently once been a man of good 
physique and considerable muscular strength. The 
bodies indicated that they had been dead some days if not 
weeks. In fact it is probable that they froze to death 
during the cold snap of the i8th which is now two weeks 
past. 

“They were buried at the expense of the county. 

The two tramps were Doctor and O. L. D. Hardiman, 
both known to the readers of these pages from their 
relations to the other characters in this simple narrative. 


CHAPTER XXVI. 


Making up the issues. A big day in the House of Representatives. 

One grave with a headstone. And one without. 

It had been a big day in the House of Representa- 
tives at Washington. 

Again a congressional election was approaching, and 
although it was yet months in the future, the leaders of 
the two great political parties were already skirmishing 
for position; had in fact done little else than skirmish 
with one another since the session began. 

What legislation had been enacted had been of small 
importance to the public generally, except in the case of 
^ one or two bills passed at the instance of the corpora- 
tions; notably that of the land-grant railroads which had 
been made more secure in their claims to certain lands 
which they maintained had been donated to them by 
Congress, but which were in the possession of settlers 
under the homestead and preemption laws, or which it 
was asserted, were not within the grant of lands to the 
railroads; or even if so, had been forfeited by their failure 
to comply with the provisions of the law that made the 
grant. 

To this legislation in favor of the corporations there 
had been little real opposition, though at first some had 
been threatened. Such of the objectors, however, as were 
known to have influence in the body had been seen and 
reasoned with by the agents of the interested corpora- 

278 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


279 


tions, and thereafter things had moved along smoothly 
and to their satisfaction. 

The laboringman’s party or “Greenbackers^’ as they 
were called had elected two or three members of the 
House, but they were entirely ignored by the other 
members, so far as their demands for legislation in the 
interests of the people were concerned. The speaker of 
the House refused even to recognize one of their number 
who sought for months to obtain the floor in order to 
introduce a bill containing the substance of the demands 
of those whom he represented, rising and addressing the 
speaker for that purpose at every occasion when to do 
so would be in order, but never being recognized or per- 
mitted to voice the wishes of his constituents upon the 
floor of the House. 

This action of the speaker was regarded as a good 
joke by the politicians of both old parties. They en- 
joyed hugely the contempt exhibited by the speaker for 
the representative of those who wanted to change ex- 
isting systems. The Satanic Press joked about it, and 
the illustrated papers had full page and highly colored 
caricatures of the scene in the House, where a big 
man — the speaker — sat down upon a “little boy that 
wanted to be heard;” and all the big boys stood 
around and applauded. 

But on this particular day, the leaders of the two 
old parties in the House had met and locked horns in 
a struggle for position before the country. 

Having united in giving to the corporations what 
they asked, and in preventing the representatives of 
the laboringmen and farmers from being heard, they 
were now ready to contend between themselves for the 
spoils of office; and, for this purpose, were uniting in 
raising false issues upon which the people could be 


2^0 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


kept divided and themselves retained in power — agents 
of the corporations and beneficiaries of the spoils 
system. 

Accordingly, the party of “Great Moral Ideas” had 
made an attack upon the party “that is always the 
friend of the people,” and had denounced its followers, 
rank and file, as “unreconstructed rebels” who refused 
to accept in good faith the reconstruction laws for the 
benefit and protection of the citizens of the southern 
states, accusing them of “pursuing the shotgun policy 
with relation to the negro” who was, they declared, 
prevented from the right of suffrage extended to him 
by the law of the land ; being compelled either to vote 
in opposition to the party which had given him his 
liberty, the party which he loved, or frightened away 
from the pblls altogether, thus making a solid South; 
a South solid in opposition to equality of opportunity, 
and leaving the North to still stand as the sole 
defender of the majesty of the law, and the equal 
rights of all the people to life, liberty and the pursuit 
of happiness. 

In a word, “the bloody shirt” had been waved with 
vigor ; and the politicians upon that side of the House 
had waxed eloquent in describing the wrongs of the 
black man and the dislike of the Southern white man 
to any proposition for doing him justice. To all of 
which, the democratic leaders, without regard to the 
locality of birth or present residence, had replied with 
equal eloquence and spirit, charging their opponents 
with attempting to force the white people of the South 
to accept the negro as a social equal ; and offsetting 
the charge of using shotguns to keep negroes from the 
polls by countercharges of attempts on the part of the 
republicans, to intimidate both whites and blacks 


CONGRESSMAK SWANSON 


281 


by surrounding the polls with corydons of federal 
bayonets. 

And this wordy fight waxed hot, and bitter things 
were said, and bitterly replied to. 

The ablest debaters upon either side were engaged. 
The sharpest wits in either party thrust in their keen 
blades at every opportunity. Members rose excitedly 
from their seats and cast angry glances in the direction 
of their opponents, and hurled epithets, and seemed 
ready to hurl bound volumes of congressional reports 
at each other. 

The speaker rapped in vain for order. The Ameri- 
can Eagle screamed, and the sergeant-at-arms marched 
solemnly down the aisle, bearing aloft the ensign of 
his office. 

Then order began slowly to resume its sway over 
the body. 

The speaker continued to pound with his gavel and 
to call out : 

"Will the gentlemen take their seats?” 

"The gentlemen must take their seats.” 

"The gentlemen will take their seats immediately, 
or the sergeant-at-arms will be compelled to remove 
the gentlemen from the floor.” 

The sergeant-at-arms continued to pass up and down 
the different aisles, and, as he passed, the members, 
slowly and with mutterings, subsided into their respec- 
tive seats, and all became orderly once more. 

And then a member rose, and moved that the body 
adjourn for the day ; another member seconded it. It 
was put b}'’ the speaker, who declared the motion 
carried unanimously, and at once the members began 
to file out of the hall. 

The skirmish was over for the present. 


282 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


In the rotunda, and in the hat and cloakroom, those 
who had been but a few moments before accusing each 
other, or the parties which each represented, of the 
most odious crimes against the different sections of 
the country, now mingled and chatted together 
pleasantly of other matters ; made appointments to 
attend some place of amusement in each other’s com- 
pany ; or locked arms and together went out and took 
a drink. 

But each read the papers carefully for days afterward 
to see what effect the affair had produced upon the 
country, and how much notoriety each had personally 
gotten out of it. 

They smiled cheerfully whenever they found mention 
made of themselves, and hopefully when they read on 
the one hand, that “the South would remain solid so 
long as the North persisted in attempting to force 
negro equality upon its indignant people and upon 
the other, that “the North would never consent to 
yield the fruits of its victory, won in a contest wherein 
the blood of its best and bravest had flowed in torrents 
that wet the southern soil to a lot of unreconstructed 
rebels." 

Horace Swanson had taken such part in this battle 
of words upon the floor of the House as had brought 
him credit in the eyes of the older members and recog- 
nized leaders of the party. 

With good command of language, naturally impul- 
sive, quick of wit, and ready in repartee, he had been 
drawn into the debate almost without knowing how or 
why. But once in and aroused, he had done and 
said his full share of bitter and scathing things, and 
so had won reputation as a debater and a partisan. 

And he was not displeased at the knowledge that 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


283 


he had done so. On the contrary, he felt like con- 
gatulating himself upon the fact, and rather hoped 
that other occasions might arise in which he should 
find opportunity to show his metal, and he determined 
to be prepared for them when they came; and at 
once began taxing his wits for sharp sayings and 
sarcastic expressions to be laid up in the safe but 
easily opened receptacle of his memory, to be kept for 
use when wanted. 

Busy with his thoughts, he forgot, for a time, to 
examine the letters that he had thrust into his pocket 
before leaving the Capitol building. 

Remembering them at last, he threw them on the 
table in his room, where he usually answered his mail, 
and then, still standing, proceeded to pick them up 
again one at a time, and glance at the post-mark 
upon each. 

There were letters from various post-offices, mostly 
within his own congressional district ; though there 
were a few from other districts and states. He knew 
well, before opening, the purport of the larger portion 
of them. Experience had taught him that a majority 
of all letters received by members of Congress contain 
requests for personal favors of some kind, his own 
being largely in relation to pensions ; but many of 
them requests for assistance in procuring an office, nr 
a position in some of the departments of government 
at Washington. Others again were upon various 
matters of importance to the writers but of no import- 
ance whatever to the public or to the members of Con- 
gress, to whom they were addressed. 

Among those which Congressman Swanson was now 
running over in search of something to indicate which 
was of most interest and hence to be first read, none 


284 CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 

appeared to promise anything important, or even 
curious, until he came to one that, from its crumpled 
and soiled envelope, indicated having been long in 
transit, or having met with an accident of some kind. 

Nothing in the handwriting or the post-mark sug- 
gested an idea of its probable contents, or of its author, 
and yet it awoke a not altogether pleasant feeling in 
his breast, and he at once seated himself at the table 
and proceeded to open it. 

Glancing at the contents, he noticed that it was not 
dated at any place, and curious, turned at once to 
the bottom of the fast page and read the simple 
signature of “Doctor.” 

A smile lit up his face for an instant as he mentally 
recalled the picture of his humble friend, and thought 
of his walking all the way .to Washington to offer 
advice and assistance to himself, previous to the last 
election. 

“I am glad Doctor has let himself be heard from at 
last : couldn’t imagine what had become of him ; was 
afraid he had got into trouble someway,” he was 
mentally saying as he turned the sheets and began to 
read the contents. 

“Dear Mr. Swanson : — I know you will have 
wondered why you have neither seen nor heard from 
me since the time I was in Washington, nearly two 
years ago, and that you will have been uneasy about 
me, for you were always kind to everybody, and you 
were my friend. 

“Indeed, Mr. Swanson, I would have written you, 
would have asked you for assistance, but that at times 
I could not, and then sometimes I have felt ashamed 
to let you know where and how I was. I knew I 
ought not to have felt ashamed to let you know, for 
you would have understood, and would not have 
blamed me. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


285 


“You know, Mr. Swanson, that I nevgr wanted any- 
body to give me anything ; that I tried hard to make 
a living by work and by selling my preparation, which 
really was good for what I recommended it, and ever 
so much cheaper than having a doctor, or even buying 
medicine that was patented, and I think I did right 
in selling it as I tried to do. 

“But, Mr. Swanson, I have been arrested as a tramp 
a great many times, and have been compelled to work 
at things which I was not strong enough to do ; and 
often I could not get food or any place to sleep, except 
out in the cold and wet ; for, in some of the states, 
they have laws to arrest a man if he so much as asks 
for food or lodging. And new I am sick and am going 
to die, and shall never see you or Mr. Nixon or any 
of my friends again ; and so I write to let you know 
what has become of me, so you will not be troubled 
about me any more, but will know that I am dead 
when you read this, for I shall not send it ; but just 
keep it about me till I die, and then somebody will 
send it to you. 

“I want you to know also, Mr. Swanson, that the 
tramps are not all bad men, or that they would not be 
if they had a chance to be good. I have talked with a 
great many of them, and some of them have been very 
kind to me, and are often kind to each other, and share 
what they have with each other, even when they are 
hungry themselves. 

“But, Mr. Swanson, almost all of them were honest 
men once. A great many were mechanics and had 
homes and families when the panic came, and all the 
factories stopped. 

“When the shops shut down, these men started out 
to find work somewhere else, but they couldn’t find it, 
and they got out of money^and then they were tramps, 
and were arrested, and put in prison, or at work on the 
streets ; and when they came out, no one would have 
them or give them work, and they had to tramp. They 
couldn’t help being tramps, Mr. Swanson, and it isn’t 
fair nor right to arrest them and so make them out to 


286 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


bo criminals, and disgrace them and break up their 
families. 

"I know you didn’t know about this as well as I do, 
because you haven’t been a tramp, and couldn’t know, 
and so I wanted to tell you how it is that there are 
tramps, so you could do something — get some law 
passed, maybe, that will help them or stop making 
them. 

"I could not get back to Smithville in time to vote 
for you last election, for I was sick, but I read in the 
papers that you were re-elected and so I know you 
are still in Washington, and will do all you can 
toward making the times better, and I shall direct this 
letter to you there so you will know what has become 
of me, and won’t worry about me any more. 

“Good-by; give my love to Mr. Nixon and Mr. 
Mason and Miss Jennie, when you go back to Smith- 
ville. Doctor. ” 

Tears were standing in Congressman Swanson’s eyes 
long before he had finished reading the letter; and 
when he had concluded, they were running down his 
cheeks. 

He laid the letter upon the table, and felt for his 
handkerchief. 

“Strange what brutes some men are” he muttered; 
"nobody could fail to see, with half an eye, that Doctor 
was a perfectly harmless fellow that wouldn’t hurt a 
fly. And to arrest him and put him on the rock-pile ! 
It’s an outrage, and I wish I had the brutes where 
I could fix ’em. 

“Poor Doctor! Well, he’s at rest at last. Simple 
fellow, but true as steel to his friends and the cause 
of the laborer. Wish I knew how near he and Nixon 
and the rest are right about those matters. I’d like to 
do something for ’em if I only knew what was needed, 
,and could jget Congress to a^ree to it. Anyhow J’il 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


287 


write and find out the particulars of Doctor^s death, 
and see that he has a headstone.” 

And he did. In a country graveyard, in a western 
state, stands a plain white slab, at the head of a 
grassy mound, and upon it is the simple inscription : 

“DOCTOR.” 

“He was a tramp, but a lover of his fellowmen, and 
a true friend to those he loved. ” 

Side by side with this mound is another, equally 
green but without monument or slab of any kind ; and 
beneath it lies all that remains of the once prosperous 
manufacturer — Hardiman. 


CHAPTER XXVII 

The Silent Member makes the longest speech of his life; and proposes to 
'nitiate the New Member at Nixon's. The initiation. What Jo 
Miller's wife said about Jo's attempt at dressing the baby. Jo starts 
out to tell a story but is interrupted. 

Going home from the shop, one evening, Nixon met 
the silent member, and stopped to shake hands with 
him. 

It was a year and more, nearly two years, since 
Mason’s boarding-house had been broken up and its 
boarders scattered by Jennie’s marriage, but most of 
the men were still working in Smithville, and still 
maintained more or less intimate social relations with 
Nixon and his wife and her father. 

Their threat of accepting an invitation to a Sunday 
dinner off of the new set of crockeryware presented 
to Jennie upon her wedding-day, had been carried into 
execution and repeated on several occasions; and at 
least a portion of them were in the habit of dropping 
in, at odd times and without ceremony to chat of labor 
matters, or of anything else which interested them. 

One or two were married : the evident happiness of 
Nixon and Jennie in their new relations of husband 
and wife, having so impressed them, they declared, as 
to compel them to seek for happiness by the same 
method. And as the maidens, who had thus joined 
them in the search, were those wuth whom Jennie, 

288 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


289 


now Mrs. Nixon, had been on terms of intimacy before 
her own marriage, it was but natural that this intimacy 
should continue now that they also had taken upon 
themselves the duties and pleasures of the married 
state. 

Among those who had not married, was “the silent 
member” as he was still called among his former 
mates. 

As little given to conversation now as then, he yet 
appeared quite as much as any to enjoy these occa- 
sional dinners or accidental meetings at Nixon’s, and 
if he did not talk much, he still spoke with the same 
appearance of regarding what he did sa}' as of a weighty 
nature, and requiring considerable care in the saying. 

Meeting Nixon on the night referred to as both 
were going home from their work, he shook the 
proffered hand heartily, dropped it, and taking Nixon 
by the arm, led him off of the sidewalk and half-way 
to the middle of the street (although not another 
soul was in sight in either direction), turned himself 
and Nixon so that they faced each other, and then 
said in a confidential tone of voice : 

“See here, Nixon, the boys have all heard about it, 
and they want to come round as soon as it will be 
convenient to your wife, and be introduced to the new 
member of the society. And if he isn’t ’nitiated yet, 
they’d like to help ’nitiate him. They have heard that 
he’s a ten-pounder and they want to express their 
pleasure at the progress your society is making. 
Several of the societies organized after yours was, got 
their first new member before you did ; but they ain’t 
none of ’em got a ten-pounder for the first one. How’d 
next Saturday night do for the ’nitiation? Wife got 
strong enough to preside at the ceremony — whoooo!” 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


290 

This was the longest speech the “silent member’’ 
had ever been known to make j and if it had been 
made in the presence of numbers would doubtless 
have cost him his title. As it was, it evidently came 
near bringing him to a state of exhaustion, for when he 
had finished, he emitted a long breath audibly, as if 
he had but just ended a hard climb up a steep hill. 

Possibly, however, he desired to prove that, unusual 
as had been the amount of breath expended in speak- 
ing, he still had breath left to throw away. 

“Of course she will,” returned Nixon, reaching for 
and shaking the “silent member’s” hand again. “At 
least,” he added a little cautiously, “I reckon she will. 
Tell you what Pll do, Pll just find out when it will 
suit Jennie and let you know and you can tell the 
others. Jennie will be pleased enough to have you all 
come. She thinks there isn’t another such a baby as 
ours to be found anywhere ; and I reckon myself he 
is pretty peart for a chap only a month old to-morrow. 
You must not forget to tell all the fellows. Jennie will 
be but half-satisfied if everyone of the old crowd is 
not on hand. ” . . 

“Oh, they’ll be there. Just you let us know when 
it will be convenient for ’em to come and you won’t 
find any of ’em missing ’nless they’re too sick to get 
there. First we thought we would make a surprise 
party of it, but then we concluded maybe we had 
better let you know, so as to be sure the candidate 
would be ready to be ’nitiated. Whoooo!” 

And again the “silent member” gave evidence of 
having breath to throw away. 

“Jennie,” said Nixon, with a pleased look, as he 
came into the house and the room where the young 
mother sat with her baby on her lap 3 “Jennie, the 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


291 


boys say they want to come round and be introduced 
to the new member of our society, and want you to 
say at what time it will be convenient for you to 
have them. ” 

He bent over and kissed the lips that were put up 
to him, and then rather awkwardly pulled at the baby’s 
clothes in an effort to attract it’s attention, and enable 
him to see its face. 

“Is that what they call baby?” laughed Jennie. 
“Why, have them come any time, almost. I am 
strong enough now, and baby is just as pretty as he 
can be. Won’t it be nice to have them all come to 
see him at once? I hope he will be good and not cry; 

I know he will, though. He is always good, isn’t he 
John? That is, almost always,” she added as she , 
noticed a somewhat puzzled expression overspread 
John’s face, and remembered how, only the night 
before, he had got up and lit the lamp no less than 
three times to help her try and find out what was 
the matter with baby that made him cry so. 

“Of course a baby will cry when it has the colic,” 
she continued, with a slightly injured air. “You 
couldn’t sleep yourself if you had the colic, you know 
you couldn’t. ” 

“Of course I couldn’t,” echoed Nixon. “Baby is 
just as good as he can be, I am sure, and nobody has 
a better or prettier one. But you don’t suppose he 
will have the colic often, do you, Jennie? Do babies 
generally have the colic often?” 

“Of course not. At any rate, ours isn’t going to, is 
06, baby? Tourse 00 isn’t. Mamma won’t let 00. 
Isn’t he pretty, John, isn’t he though?” 

"Of course he is. Couldn’t help being, with such a 
dad,” laughed Nixon. And he kissed his wife and 


292 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


passed his hand caressingly over her face. 

"And so I shall tell the boys to come at any time, 
shall I?” 

"Yesj only I must know beforehand, so as to get 
up a big supper for them. I want everything just as 
nice as you think we can afford.” 

"We can afford a pretty good supper I guess, when 
it is in honor of him,” said Nixon, prodding the baby 
with his finger, and provoking it into screwing up its 
face, preparatory to a cry. 

"I knew you would say so, but its awfully good in 
you all the same. I’ll talk with the girl that is help- 
ing me, and let you know when to tell them to come.” 

"They were talking of next Saturday night, if it is 
convenient to you.” 

"I’ll see — I guess that is as good a time as any, and 
I am so anxious to have them see baby, I want them 
to come just as soon as we can get things ready ; I 
will go and talk with the girl now.” 

Jennie arose as she spoke, put the baby in its 
father’s arms, kissed it half a dozen times, and passed 
out of the room in search of the girl who had been 
employed to assist about the house until Mrs. Nixon 
should fully regain her strength. A few evenings later, 
there was heard a bustle and a clatter and a chatter 
at the gate, and then upon the walk in front of Nixon’s 
cottage. Then from the steps and* upon the porch 
came the sound of laughter and of hurried footsteps, 
and then the door was opened without ceremony, and 
the folks began to crowd in in jolly contusion. 

"Where is he?” 

"Bring him out and let us see him!” 

"They say he’s a bouncer. ” 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


293 


“Wonder if he looks like his dad, or whether instead 
he is pretty, like his ma?” 

“Trot him out and let us get a good look at him." 

“We are going to initiate him.” 

And the jolly, laughing crowd pushed in through 
the door and on through the hall, past Nixon, who 
was there to welcome them ; a few stopping to shake 
his hand, but more only giving him a nod, accom- 
panied maybe by some joking remark, pushed on into 
the room where sat Jennie with her baby. 

Here the women of the party unceremoniously 
crowded the men aside and themselves formed the 
inner ring of a circle which gathered about the babe 
and its mother. They kissed baby, and cooed to it, 
and declared it was just as pretty as it could be, and 
that it looked like Jennie, and like John, and like 
Jennie’s father, Mr. Mason, and like an angel, and 
like a pink ; which latter comparison was the best of 
the lot; for whatever else baby was, he certainly was 
pink. 

While the women in the inner circle, thus cooed and 
fondled the baby and complimented its mother, the 
men, who constituted the outer circle, stood nudging 
each other with their elbows, and made remarks in 
pretendedly low and confidential tones, intended, of 
course, to reach the ears of the women. 

“Looks like General Grant,” said one. 

“Like Jefferson Davis,” said another, “I saw Jeff, 
once, and he looks just like him to a dot.” 

“What a beautiful head of hair,” remarked a third, 
admiringly. (Baby didn’t have a bit.) 

“Exact picture of Buffalo Bill.” 

“’Spose they will conclude to try and raise him?” 

“What d’y’ reckon they painted him that color for?’’ 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


294 

And then as the inner circle began casting glances 
of indignation and gathering wrath in that direction, 
the outer circle swayed back and showed indications 
of being about to break and scatter ignominiously. 

"The goat is getting uneasy," called out the "silent 
member. " 

"Bring forth the royal bumper, and let him bump,” 
cried another, at which there were other indignant 
demonstrations from the women, and other evidences 
of demoralization and threatened retreat from the 
men. 

"Bring in the paraphernalia and let’s initiate him.” 

And then there was lifted up the steps and rolled 
into the room a fine new baby carriage, with the 
daintiest of blue silk linings and a blue silk canopy, 
and the softest of pillows, trimmed with lace, and two 
little wraps to go with the pillows — one of the finest 
and softest wool, and the other of silk to match the 
linings and the canopy. 

"Oh! isn’t that pretty?” cried Jennie. "Did you 
folks really buy that for baby? How very very kind 
you are. I cannot begin to tell you how much I 
thank you. ” 

"Put him in it, put the kid in the carriage; we want 
to ’nitiate him.” 

One of the women, wife of one of Mason’s old 
boarders, and a former girl friend of Jennie’s took the 
baby carefully from its mother’s arms and laid him 
softly in the carriage. 

"Bring in the goat.” 

"All right, here he is,” and the "silent member” 
crowded to the front, reached down into the depths of 
his great overcoat pocket and pulled out a fat, woolly 


Congressman swanSon 


2^5 

Newfoundland puppy, and gravely deposited it in the 
carriage witli the baby. 

“That’s the goat!” he said. “See him go it!" 

Then everybody laughed and crowded about the 
carriasfe and the baby, and the dog ; and the baby 
wriggled its head and tried to wriggle its body but 
couldn’t, so it doubled up its fists and squinted up 
its eyes instead. 

And the puppy squirmed about and tried to stand 
on its feet among the pillows, and could’nt, and rolled 
over and got up and licked the hands reached out to 
it, and tried to lick baby’s face, and had to be put at 
baby’s feet instead, and then watched to see that he 
staid there. 

“Isn’t it sweet?” said one of the women, bending 
over the carriage, and touching baby’s face. 

“It is," said the “silent member.” 

“Looks like its mother — no, like its father," said 
another of the women. 

“It does,” said the “silent member.” 

“Worth its weight in gold,” remarked a third. 

“Well, no — I reckon not,” replied the “silent 
member”. “I got this one of Jo Bank for a dollar and 
a half, and Jo said he had two more for sale at the 
same price. ” 

“Oh, you awful, awful fellow, you!” screamed all 
the women in concert. “We were talking about the 
baby,” and they fell upon him and beat him upon the 
back with their clenched hands, using them as if 
striking with a hammer, and pushed him out of the 
room into the hall. 

“I thought you were talking about the pup all the 
time,” he said, as he pulled off his overcoat and hung 


2^6 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


it up on a nail in the hall, where the others were 
hanging theirs. 

Then they all came laughing and talking, back into 
the best room, and sat and chatted and joked and told 
anecdotes, until at half-past nine o’clock, supper was 
announced, and all filed out into the next room and 
took seats at the table. 

Everybody felt at home, and everybody enjoyed the 
meal and ate heartily, as men and women who labor 
hard, and are strong and well, always do. 

They praised the cooking and the coffee, the cock 
and the hostess, and talked of the time when she 
cooked for them, recalling little incidents, pleasant 
to the memory of the time before Jennie and Nixon 
were married, when they boarded at Mr. Mason’s, and 
Nixon brought wood and water for Jennie, and so, 
they insisted, got maiily jealous if any of the rest 
so much as lifted a finger to help her. 

"You don’t suppose I was afraid of any of you 
fellows do you?" laughed Nixon. 

"But you was afraid of all of us, yourself included.” 

Everybody laughed and Jennie Nixon said : 

"I believe that last is true, for John was awful slow 
about speaking up." 

At which they laughed again, and grew still more 
jolly, and jokes flew thick and fast. 

And through it all the "silent member" said never 
a word. 

But he kept his knife and fork going, and had his 
cup refilled with coffee three times. 

When they had finished eating, the women drove 
the men into the parlor, while they remained to help 
"rid up" the table, so they said ; which was true, in 
fact, although not the whole truth — that portion of the 


Congressman sWanson 


297 


truth which remained unspoken being that the)’’ were 
going to have a talk all to themselves while they 
worked, without any man around to bother them. 

“Men don’t know anything about women and babies, ’’ 
said one of them, as she rattled the dishes about in 
the sink. “I used to suppose they did, but they don’t; 
there’s my Jo, now; just as kind as he can be, and 
anxious to help me care for baby, but, laws-ee, you 
ought just to see him try to dress the young one. I 
caught him the other day trying to hold baby’s dress 
up in one hand and put baby into it with the other, 
feet first, like you’d put a puppy into a grain sack. 
He held the dress up in his left hand and baby by the 
back of her little slip in the other, and was making 
dabs with her, trying to put her, feet first, into the 
neck of the dress. Baby seemed to think it good fun 
and would coo and kick out her little pink feet, and 
Jo couldn’t get both of them into the dress at once, 
and he would lift her up and make another dab like, 
all the time holding her by the back of her little slip, 
which was all she had on, and which had gathered 
into a band about her waist; and all the time, Jo 
looked as solemn and as awkward as he did the time 
he asked me to marry him. I watched them through 
a crack in the wall, where the plastering is off between 
the kitchen and the sitting-room, until T couldn’t keep 
from laughing out loud any longer, and then I went 
in and sent Jo about his business and dressed her 
myself. ” 

“That’s just like a man,” chimed in another of the 
women. “Now, there’s my Sam would do anything 
in the world for me. Brings in wood and water, and 
rocks baby’s cradle while I wash up the supper dishes, 
and never leaves me of an evening, except when he 


2g8 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


just has to go to lodge to pa}' his dues, and keep 
from being fined, but he aint got no sense about some 
things. Why, do you know, I sent him down town 
once last summer to get something for baby a dress, 
he was in long clothes then, you know. I told him I 
wanted something thin and pretty; something baby 
would look nice in when we took him out riding in 
his carriage, and what do you suppose he got?” 

‘‘I am sure I have not the least idea,’’ said one. 
‘‘You never can begin to tell what a man is going to 
do.” 

“Expect he got some jeans,” suggested another. 

“Well, as sure as I am alive he brought home a whole 
bolt of musquito netting, red musquito netting. Think 
of dressing baby up in great coarse red musquito netting 
and taking him out to ride in a carriage with green trim- 
mings.” 

“Just like a man. They haven’t got any sense about 
such things.” 

“Sam said I told him to get something thin and com- 
fortable, and he thought I wanted what I said I wanted. 
And as for the color he insisted that baby would look 
pretty in red, and was more than half a mind to get huffy 
because I wouldn’t have it and made him take it right 
back and tell the storekeeper I would come down and 
get what I wanted in a day or two.” 

“I do believe John would know better than to buy 
musquito netting for baby’s dresses,” said Jennie Nixon, 
“but I am not going to trust him to dress baby until he 
gets bigger, for I don’t believe he would know whether 
the dress gathered in at the neck or about the waist. In 
fact, he asked me the other day if baby wouldn’t look 
better in short clothes than he did in his long dresses, and 
said if he was me he believed he would do it at once 


CONGRESSMAN SWaNSON 


* — and baby only just a month old then. But come girls 
Mary can finish the work in the morning. Let’s go into 
the sitting-room where the gentlemen are.” 

‘‘Its funny now about the women not knowing anything 
about our work,” one of the men was saying. “I laughed 
more the other day tb see my wife try to” — but just 
here the door opened and the ladies entered and the man 
who was just going to tell something illustrative of 
woman’s ignorance of some things, changed his mind 
and began talking of something else, and the conversa- 
tion became general, the ladies bearing equal part with 
the gentlemen. 

Finally some one touched upon the labor question, and 
the work of organization, and Mr. Mason was asked for 
news of the movement, and gave such as he had, which 
all considered both interesting and encouraging. 

Then someone asked Nixon what audiences he had 
while upon a little speaking trip that he had made into 
the country a short time before. 

“Did the people turn out to hear you pretty well?” 
was asked. 

“Asa general thing, yes. I spoke in schoolhouses 
almost always and usually they were pretty well filled, 
sometimes they were crowded.” 

“Were you the only speaker or did someone go with 
you?” 

“Oh! Mr. Miller here was with me all the time, and 
the chairman, of the county committee of the county we 
were canvassing, took us about and introduced us at the 
meetings generally. Sometimes he could not go and 
then somebody else did the introducing. We staid 
nights with some of the farmers who are with us in the 
fight, going home with them after speaking, and you may 
be sure they treated us to the best they had.” 


300 


COKCRBsSman SWaNSON 


“I did not think I should want any thing to eat for a 
month when I got back but I guess I have managed to 
destroy about as large a quantity of provisions as usual.” 

“Ask him about the speech he made down in the 
Quaker settlement/^ suggested Miller. 

“Better ask Miller about the speech he failed to make 
to the Quakers,” retorted Nixon. 

“Tell us about it.” 

“Yes, let’s have it.” 

“Don’t be mean now and keep a good thing all to 
yourselves just because you can.” 

“If Nixon won’t tell it boys, I guess I’ll have to,” said 
Miller. 

He hitched his chair forward a little, so as to get a 
fuller view of his audience, and was just on the point of 
beginning when his wife came and laid their baby in his 
arms. 

“Here Jo, ’’she said, “it’s twelve o’clock. Time every- 
body was going. All the women are getting their things 
on.” 

“All right. Here, take the kid till I get my over- 
coat.” 

“But what about the Quaker settlement and the 
speech you were going to tell us about; we can’t afford 
to lose that,” called out one of the men as a general stir 
passed about the room. 

“No indeed.” 

“Too late to-night boys,” returned Miller. “The 
ladies have their things on ready to go, and anyway we 
ought not to keep Mrs. Nixon up any longer, but if you 
will all come round to my house some night soon I’ll 
tell it.” 

“Say next Saturday night.” 

“All right, Saturday night it is; come round all of you 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


301 


and we will have some oysters and a cracker or two and 
ril tell the yarn if Nixon won’t.’* 

< ‘We’ll be there,” said the silent member, at which 
everybody laughed and the silent member appeared dis- 
gusted and said they didn’t know what they were laugh- 
ing about, at which they laughed the more. 

Then they shook hands all around with Mr. and Mrs. 
Nixon and Mr. Mason, not forgetting the baby either, 
who was lying wide awake in his new carriage with the 
puppy fast asleep at his feet, after which they filed out 
of the cottage and down the steps, and on out into the 
street where those in advance paused a moment to say 
good-night to those in the rear, and then separating went 
to their own homes. 

‘T hope you are not too tired,” said Nixon to his wife 
when they were all gone. 

“Oh, no! I am not a bit weary,” returned Mrs. Nixon, 
“but it is late and time we were in bed. Bring baby and 
let’s go.” 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 


Jo Miller tells of the entertainment which he and Nixon ''ave down in 
the Quaker settlement . 

“Come Jo, tell us about the experience you and Nixon 
had down in the Quaker settlement.” 

“Yes, yes, tell us about it; that’s what we came for. ” 

They were all at Miller’s house and sitting round 
Miller’s best room with a roaring fire in the stove, for 
it was getting late in the fall, in fact was in the first days 
of winter, and there was a cold snap upon the country. 

Mrs. Nixon was there with her baby, and Mrs. Brown 
with her baby, and Mrs. Secor with her baby, and 
the Miller baby was there, of course, because she lived 
there. And Mrs. Nixon, and Mrs. Brown, and Mrs. 
Secor, and Mrs. Miller had all shown their babies to 
each other, and to those women that had no babies, 
and had introduced the babies to everybody and tried to 
get them to shake hands and say: “How-de-do,” and 
everybody had said: “Aren’t they sweet,” and, “ Did you 
ever see anything so cute ? ” And then the darlings had 
been tucked away — the Miller baby in her crib and the 
others on the bed in the room where Miller and his wife 
slept. Then all the men had been warned, “ not to go 
in there now and throw your heavy overcoats on baby,” 
after which the respective mothers had withdrawn them- 
selves to the kitchen to help Mrs. Miller set the table, 
and get things ready for the supper which was to come 

30? 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


303 


later, not forgetting to rush back every two minutes to 
see “if baby is all right and sleeping.” 

And the men had hung their overcoats in the hall, and 
had tried to hang their hats on top of them, and had 
failed to make them stay, so had piled them up on the 
floor in the corner, and warmed themselves at the stove, 
and spoken of the weather and said, “it was a pretty cold 
snap for the first one, and sort of pinched a fellow,” and 
had agreed that it was and that it did, and that it would 
be colder to-morrow unless the wind shifted, which it 
probably would not do; and that the fire felt mighty 
comfortable, and finally that Jo Miller should proceed 
to tell them the experience which he and Nixon had had 
in the Quaker settlement at the time they went there to 
make a Greenback speech. 

“All right, boys. I’ll tell it. I said I would and 1 
will, though I know I can’t make you see it just as it 
struck us. But it was this way:” 

“The chairman of the county committee had been 
going around with us, piloting us about and introducing 
us to the people at our meetings; but one day something 
occurred that compelled him to be at home and he left 
us with the horse and buggy in .which we had been 
getting about, and he rode into town with an old farmer 
where we had spent the night, and we had to find our 
appointment for the afternoon and evening for our- 
selves.” 

“Well, we got to the afternoon appointment all right, 
and had a good audience and a good time; spoke in a 
schoolhouse and woke the people up considerably, I 
reckon, for they cheered both Nixon and myself repeat- 
edly and appeared to be well pleased with what we said. 

“ We cut pur speeches tolerably short there, because 
we had a |Qod long drive tp pur n.ight apppintment, and. 


304 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


the roads were pretty bad back in the country where we 
were, and we knew we had all we could do to make it in 
time. 

We got directions of the fellows where we spoke in 
the afternoon and started; but the road was so crooked, 
and so many other roads branched off this way and that, 
that we got to be uncertain which road to take at last, 
and Nixon got out and went up to a farm house and 
made inquiries. Now whether they misdirected him on 
purpose, or whether Nixon misunderstood of course we 
don’t know; anyway we took the wrong road, and after 
driving until almost dark without seeing anybody of 
whom we could make further inquiries, we brought up 
in a settlement of Quakers ten miles from where we 
wanted to be, and from the place where we were billed 
to speak. 

It was then too late to think of getting to the place 
where we were expected, but we thought there was no 
use in losing the time entirely, and that we might as well 
get up a little meeting where we were and try our hands 
at converting the Quakers to the Greenback idea.” 

You know the Quakers are all Republicans; I never 
heard of one that was a Democrat. They were all Abo- 
litionists before the war and have been Republicans to a 
man ever since. 

Well, we found a place where they said we might 
stay all night, and after putting up our horse we started 
out to find the moderator and get permission to speak in 
the schoolhouse. 

‘‘We found his house without any trouble, and in 
answer to our knock he came to the door. He was a 
Quaker, of course, and dressed Quaker style in drab 
clothes that had a kind of a sober look of their own, as if 
they were Quakers themselves and had joined meetings 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


305 


before their owner had, and were trying to set him an 
xample of decorum. 

“The man himself was a pretty nice looking old fel- 
low, tall and fresh complected, and but for his Quaker 
garb would have been right jolly looking. In fact, I am 
satisfied now that the old rascal liked a joke better than 
anybody, and that, if it had not been for the example 
which his clothes constantly set before him he would 
have just run over with good natured fun. He asked us 
in, and we went in and took seats in the sitting-room and 
chatted a moment, and then Nixon, who had agreed to 
do the talking on the occasion, told him what we had 
come for, to get permission to hold a meeting and speak 
in the schoolhouse. 

“‘What kind of a speech is thee going to make, 
friends ? ’ asked the old fellow, tying us sort of sharp 
like. 

“ ‘A political speech;’ Nixon told him. ‘We want to 
talk to the people on the issues of the hour.’ 

“‘Going to make apolitical speech is thee? What 
kind of a political speech does thee intend making? ’ 

“ ‘Oh,’ said Nixon, ‘a Greenback speech. A speech 
about the financial policy of the government; what it has 
done and what it ought to do to enable the people to get 
more of the benefits of their own labor.’ 

“ ‘Is thee going to scandalize the Republicans?’ asked 
the old Quaker rubbing his chin and looking sort of 
interested. 

“ That kind of rattled Nixon a bit; it came so sudden 
and unexpected like, and was put in such a queer way, 
and hoi stammered out: 

‘“Why no, Mr. Quake — that is mister — mister.’ 

“ He was going to say, ‘ Mr. Quaker/ but caught him- 

?9 


3o6 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


self in time to bite the word in two, and said ^mister — 
mister,’ instead. 

^Thee can call me Jamison if thee wishes,’ said the 
old Quaker, and I know he wanted to laugh, only his 
clothes wouldn’t let him. They told him they would 
report him to the meeting if he did. 

“ ^Why no, Mr. Jamison,’ said Nixon, ^ we don’t 
propose to scandalize any body or any party ; what we 
want to do is to tell the people the evil effects of some of 
the laws upon the statute books of the nation, and what 
ought to be done to prevent other panics like the last 
one.’ 

‘We consider the Republican and Democratic parties 
about equally responsible for these laws, and in our 
speeches we say so, and try to induce the people to leave 
them and come to ours — a new party — in defense of 
their own interests and in opposition to the monopolies.’ 

“ ‘Then thee cannot have the schoolhouse,’ said the 
old Quaker, and it seemed to me that his clothes re- 
peated, ‘ Thee cannot have the schoolhouse.’ ” 

“That was a stumper sure enough; but we were not 
going to be bluffed too easily, and we both fell to arguing 
with him and trying every way to get him to consent, 
and he finally sort of straightened out his legs and looked 
at himself as if to get the consent of his clothes to what 
he was going to say, and then said he: ” 

“ ‘I will tell thee what I will do for thee, friends. If 
thee will agree to scandalize the Democrats and say 
nothing at all about the Republicans, I’ll not only let thee 
have the schoolhouse but I’ll go about among the friends 
and neighbors and get thee up an audience. What does 
thee say to this proposition? ’ ” 

“ Ha, ha, ha! ” laughed the crowd, and they drew 
their chairs a little nearer the speaker, 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


307 


Well, the old Quaker had you didn’t he? What did 
you tell him? Did you agree to it? ” 

‘^You see it was this way,” resumed Miller, leaning 
forward and laying the first two fingers of his right hand 
in the open palm of the left; ^‘we were like the old lady 
when her husband got into a fight with a bear. She 
said ’she hadn’t no prejudice for nor agin neither one of the 
parties engaged in the ruction, nor she wasn’t a 
goin’ to mix up in none of their affairs; she spected one 
was just about as much to blame as t’other.’ So far as 
the old political parties are concerned we reformers have 
no prejudice against one as compared with the other. 
They are about equally guilty, and neither could con- 
tinue to exist without the other, for both are sectional 
parties and both live upon sectional bitterness and sec- 
tional misunderstandings. As you all know, Nixon and 
myself, all of our speakers, in fact, are in the habit of 
giving it to each of the old parties in turn, and as equally 
as we know how to divide it. But the old Quaker had 
us fast and tight. There was no place to hold a meeting 
except the schoolhouse, and this he would not give us 
permission to use unless we accepted his proposition of 
giving it to the Democrats, and keeping still about the 
Republicans. 

We tried argument, but it was no use; the old fel- 
low had us; and if he had wanted to do different I am 
satisfied he could not have got the consent of his 
clothes; and, finally, after going out and consulting to- 
gether about it a little more, we went back and told him 
we would agree to what he asked, and should expect 
him to drum us up a good crowd, which he promised 
to do. 

Nixon and I allowed we would get some fun out of 
the affair anyway, and we sort of needed a little some- 


3o8 congressman SWANSON 

thing of that kind to wake us up, for we had been having 
pretty hard times of it, speaking twice each day and 
driving in a buggy — three in a seat most of the time — 
over rough roads from one appointment to another, 
never getting to bed till midnight or after, and then up 
early to breakfast. I tell you boys the grangers work 
early and late for what they get, and the chap that eats 
breakfast with them eats it before sun up, as a general 
thing. 

‘‘Well, Nixon and I went back to where we had put 
out our horse and got supper and then went over to the 
schoolhouse. Nixon had agreed to do the speaking — ” 

“ Hold on there Miller,” broke in Nixon, “you must 
tell this thing straight. I didn’t agree to do all the 
speaking, but only to speak first. You were to close, 
and each was to speak about an hour.” 

“Oh, well now, I just expected Nixon would say 
that,” laughed Miller, tilting back in his chair and let- 
ting it down again with a thump. “ Anyway, Nixon 
was to speak first, and I reckon I promised to say some- 
thing after he was through if I could think of anything 
to say.” 

“ Did you have many out to hear you ?” asked one of 
the men, as Miller paused. 

“Many out,” echoed Miller. “I should say so! I 
don’t know how that old Quaker did it, but I believe he 
put men or boys on horses the moment we left him, and 
sent them on the dead run all over that neighborhood. 
Many out — the schoolhouse was full of drab coats; not 
a vacant seat, and not a woman or a boy in the lot; but 
every old Quaker, or at least every third man brought a 
tallow dip which he proceeded to light and turn side- 
ways until the blaze had caused a little pool of melted 
tallow to fall upon the desk in front of him, on which he 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


309 

placed the candle in an upright position and held it firm 
until the tallow hardened and kept the candle in posi- 
tion. 

It was the most solemn looking audience I ever cast 
my eyes on; and I tell you I was glad Nixon was to do 
the speaking.’’ 

Was to speak first, you mean,” interrupted Nixon. 

There you go again,” retorted Miller good natur- 
edly. Boys, I wish you would keep Nixon still until 
I finish this little yarn. How can I talk if he keeps 
bothering me in this way?” 

‘^You go ahead Miller, and we will take care of 
Nixon; if he interrupts you any more we will put him 
out.” 

“All right; you do it. As I was saying, it was the 
most solemn looking audience I ever saw, and I was 
glad Nixon was to speak — ” 

“First,” said Nixon. 

“ Instead of myself,” continued Miller, without notic- 
ing that Nixon had spoken. “Our own particular 
Quaker, the moderator of the district, took a seat be- 
hind the little table on the rostrum, and lit his candle, and 
set it up before him just as the rest had done, and then 
arose and introduced Mr. Nixon as the speaker of the 
evening.” 

“He said the first speaker,” again interposed Mr. 
Nixon. 

' “ Shall we put him out. Miller? If you say so, we’ll 
put him out.” 

“No, let him stay; he will likely want to know what 
kind of a speech he made. 

“You know, boys, Nixon sort of prides himself in 
telling an anecdote well; and to be fair about it I don’t 
know of any of our speakers that tells one better. The 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


3ic> 

crowd that don’t laugh at Nixon’s jokes don’t want to 
laugh, and can’t be made to. 

<< Nixon started off all right. Readdressed them as 
friends and fellow citizens. I was afraid he would get 
tangled again, and say fellow Quakers, but he did not. 
He started in all right and then he told an anecdote; it 
was one of his funniest, and of a stock that he keeps 
especially to wake up a crowd when they show signs of 
getting uneasy or out of humor, and which always brings 
the house down. 

But he might as well have told it to a lot of tele- 
graph poles as to that crowd of old Quakers, for not one 
of ’em so much as cracked a smile. I was watching 
them, and not one of ’em moved a muscle of the face. 
Then Nixon told ’em another, that if anything was fun- 
nier than the first, but it fell dead; not a man in the 
audience so much as nodded his head; and they heard 
another, and then another, with an air of quiet endurance 
that was laughable in itself, though it rather irritated 
Nixon. Once or twice I thought he had ’em, for I was 
sure I saw some of them act as though they could hardly 
hold in any longer; but I reckon they were afraid of their 
clothes, and so didn’t do it. 

Then Nixon started off on a new tack. He began 
about slavery before the war. At this the old fellows 
pricked up their ears — as the saying ^ — and appeared 
to be getting interested. That encouraged Nixon and 
he denounced slavery in good round terms, and the audi- 
ence cheered him. Then he referred to Lincoln and 
the emancipation proclamation, and they cheered again. 
By this time Nixon was getting well warmed up and got 
on to his high horse and spun it off right lively for a few 
minutes and wound up a burst after this style: 

But, gentlemen, African slavery never made a mil- 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


3it 

lionaire. No man ever accumulated a million of dollars 
by the labor of men who knew themselves slaves. It 
was not until a scheme had been devised under which, 
while believing themselves free, while believing them- 
selves to be producing wealth for themselves, and for 
those they loved, the wealth they produce is secretly 
transferred, by means of a vicious system of finance and 
vicious laws, into the pockets of others than those who 
produce it. 

‘‘While the patriotic masses of the North were spend- 
ing their money and spilling their blood to crush out 
negro slavery, a set of men, traitors to the people and the 
Republic, traitors to God and humanity, were plotting to 
enslave both the black man and the white, plotting to 
make serfs of every wealth-producer in the land, no mat- 
ter whether he lived north of Mason’s and Dixon’s line 
or south of it; no matter whether he worked in the cot- 
ton and the cane, or whether he raised wheat and corn; 
no matter whether he worked in the field or the factory, 
the workshop, or the mine. The Democratic party has 
much to answer for; before the war it was the champion 
of negro slavery; since then it has worked hand in hand 
with the Republican party in the interests of the corpor- 
ations, and has helped to establish and maintain a finan- 
cial system which has impoverished the people and made 
— not one millionaire but a thousand; and not millionaires 
only, but men possessed of a hundred million. The Dem- 
ocrats equally with the Republicans stand convicted 

“I knew just what Nixon was going to say, because 
I had heard him use those very words on several occa- 
sions before in his speeches. He was going to say, the 
Republican party stood convicted before an intelligent 
public of crimes against the prosperity, and liberties of 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


312 

the people, etc., but just then our old Quaker, who 
sat behind the table, quietly reached over, took the 
candle in front of him and — whoof — he blew it out. 

And then every other old fellow in the crowd reached 
for his candle and half of them blew them out, and the 
rest were just on the point of doing so when Nixon hes- 
itated, hemmed once or twice and began again.’’ 

^‘The Republican party, gentlemen, stands convicted 
of having struck the chains from the limbs of the black 
man, and for this it deserves the thanks of every true 
lover of humanity the whole world over. 

‘‘By the time Nixon had got this out our old fellow 
was striking a match to light his candle again; and as soon 
as he did that, every other man who had blown out his 
candle stretched over and lit it at a neighbor’s who had 
not extinguished his, and then they dropped more liquid 
tallow on the little pile already on the desks, and stick- 
ing their candles into it again gave Nixon their undi- 
vided attention. 

“Nixon stumbled about for five minutes or so, trying 
to find a thread that lead in the right direction, and then 
thought he had found it, and proceeded to mount his 
high horse and grow eloquent again. But it was a hard 
road and up hill. He knew that our old Quaker, the 
moderator, who had got us up the crowd, had posted every 
one of the others, and that blowing out the candles was 
a note of warning; that it was to tell him he was getting 
on dangerous ground, and must keep hands off the 
Republican party or he would instantly find himself in 
the dark, and without an audience. 

“Well, as I said, he stumbled about for a time, and 
then struck another lead and followed it up for a few 
riiinutes all right, but suddenly he came to a point where 
it was impossible to go on without referring to the Repub- 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 3iB 

lican party in uncomplimentary terms; and again the 
old fellow reached for his candle, and then twenty other 
old fellows reached for theirs, and Nixon stopped short 
off, coughed, took a drink of water, and wiped his mouth 
with his handkerchief. 

‘‘Then he started in again on a new trail, which 
seemed to promise all right. 

“It ran along over perfectly level ground for a time, 
and there seemed never a log or a rock in the way, and 
Nixon warmed up and grew eloquent again, and was 
going at a lively pace down the trail, whooping it up to 
the Democrats for their connection with the monopolies 
when, before he really knew it, he ran butt up against a 
thicket, under which it was impossible no*t to see the 
Republican and Democratic jack-rabbits sitting side by 
side and equally guilty of depredation upon the orchards, 
and gardens, and grain fields of the people. And again 
the old fellows reached for their candles, and again 
Nixon stopped, coughed, got out his handkerchief and 
wiped his mouth after taking a drink of water. 

“Well, to make the story short, Nixon talked and 
sweat, backed up and started, and started and backed 
up, and sweat and coughed, and took a drink and wiped 
his mouth, until I thought I would die with wanting to 
laugh; and there those old fellows in drab clothes sat as 
solemn as the crack of doom — whatever that is — and 
held him to his contract to scandalize the Democrats 
and steer clear of the Republicans, till finally, Nixon 
gave it up for a bad job and sat down.’^ 

“I put in my time though,’’ said Nixon. “It was 
hard work, but I did it; but, what do you fellows think? 
When the old Quaker who presided over the meeting, 
introduced Mr. Miller as the next speaker. Miller got up 
and stammered out that he was sick and not able to 


314 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


speak, and lie didn’t and wouldn’t; I have not forgiven 
him yet, and I think now, 1 never will.” 

Miller had been repeatedly interrupted by the laughter 
of the men while telling his story, and now they laughed 
again, laughed long and heartily. 

^^That old Quaker that put up the job on you fellows, 
certainly was a good one,” said one of the crowd, when 
their laughter had subsided a little; ‘^I’d give a dollar 
just for a sight of him.” 

‘‘But, what did he say when Miller backed out of 
speaking?” 

“Oh,” replied Nixon, “ that was as rich as any of it. 
The old rascal had the gall to say, ‘ that while they 
regretted that sudden illness prevented the other gentle- 
man from contributing to the entertainment of the eve- 
ning’ — entertainment, mind you — ‘he was sure that those 
present had been well repaid for coming out, and that if 
convenient to us, they would be glad to hear the enter- 
tainment repeated at some future time.’ ” 

“ Ha, ha, ha! Well, what did you say to that?” 

“I told him,” said Nixon, “ ‘I didn’t think it would be 
convenient for us to speak in that neighborhood again 
soon; but if any of those present would do us the favor 
to attend at our afternoon speaking on the morrow, we 
would certainly try to make it interesting to them.’ ” 

“And did any of them go?” 

“ If they did they didn’t wear drab clothes. I watched, 
hoping some of them would come; and if they had I was 
just going to do my best to wear out and use up the 
Republican — ” 

Before he could finish what he was saying, the door 
between the sitting-room and kitchen opened and a 
woman’s voice was heard saying: 

“Oysters all ready to serve; you just run in and see 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 315 

if the babies are all right, and tell the men to come out 
to supper.” 

‘■‘We’re coming,” said the silent member; and this 
was the first time he had spoken during the evening. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

Uncle Billy Bowlegs* Soliliquy. — Uucle Billy and the Mortgage Note- 
System. — The Mortgage Note- System and the Land Owner . — The 
South Immediately After the War. 

town am on a bloom; yaas sah; dat’s what de 
Gunnel sade; he sade de town was on a bloom. Spect 
he meant it was sort a unfoldin’ an a widenin’ out, lak 
de mornin’ glory vines down in de corn-field on de creek 
bottom. 

Wal let her bloom. I aint a gwine to stop her 
bloomin. Spect I lak to see her bloom; spect maybe it 
make better times for de cullud folks; anyway I aint 
gwine to stop ’er,” and Deacon William Bascomb famil- 
iarly known as Uncle Billy Bowlegs, climbed into his 
wagon, whipped up the, single steer, which, hitched be- 
tween the shafts of a one horse, or one ox wagon, con- 
stituted the propelling power of the outfit, and moved 
off in the direction of his humble cabin. 

Uncle Billy is a character in his way, and in his way 
a pretty good character. That is, his character is good 
as far as it goes in that direction. If there are weak- 
nesses anywhere in Uncle Billy’s character they but 
prove him man and brother, since, white and black alike, 
we all have weaknesses somewhere. Some men have 
small weaknesses and are fond of chickens, especially 
chickens of frying size.” Others have greater weak- 
nesses exhibited in a love for acquiring railroads, gob- 

316 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


317 


bling up coal mines, making corners in stocks, wheat, 
oats, corn, cotton, and the like. 

Uncle Billy has none of these larger weaknesses; he 
never even so much as contemplated the acquisition of 
a railroad, never sought to gobble mines of any kind, 
nor attempted to make a corner in anything, but is quite 
content and happy without owning so much as a corner 
lot, though he does own, and is proud of owning, the 
steer which he drives between the shafts of' his one 
horse, or one ox wagon. And he has a right to be 
proud; he raised that steer from a little calf and it is his. 

He was a slave once, no doubt, for he is an old man, 
though lively on his legs, albeit they are shaped a good 
deal like the rainbow, and he has always lived where he 
was born in a Southern state. 

But he is jolly still, in spite of his age — and his legs. 
He can dance a jig on occasions, or can preach to the 
^‘brederin ” when the regular pastor is prevented — by a 
sudden rise in the creek, or from any other unforeseen or 
providential cause — from being present; but as he is 
rather a small man, and short, and as the pulpit in his 
church was built for a man with longer body and straighter 
legs, he prefers on such occasions to take his text and 
preach his sermon in front of, rather than behind the 
desk. 

He tends a few acres on rented land, giving a fourth 
of the cotton for the use of the land, breaking up the 
ground and tending the crop with his steer. Hauls a 
bit of wood for this or that white man, or possibly some 
colored brother, works a day now and then for some- 
body in town, or does any odd jobs that come in his 
way, and is happy and hopeful, and as honest as his 
circumstances will reasonably admit of, which is no more 
than any man in the land has a right to be. Just now 


3i8 congressman SWANSON 

he is returning to his cabin on the outskirts of the town 
with a sack of corn meal, half a side of meat, and a gal- 
lon jug of cane molasses — and the information that the 

town is on a bloom.’’ 

Boom,” was what the Colonel had said, but Uncle 
Billy had failed to overhear correctly and had understood 
it bloom, which, with the kind permission of the reader, I 
will suggest is quite as good a word and quite as expres- 
sive as the other. 

Uncle Billy has not paid for the rations he is taking 
home with him, but he will pay for them in a few days 
or weeks. 

His cotton is ready to pick, and when it is gathered 
and the gin — which is a machine with a lot of little fine 
circular saws that run between teeth with a certain width 
of space separating them, and catch the cotton as it is 
pressed up against them and half cuts, half tears the lint 
from the seed. When the gin has separated the lint 
from the seed and pressed it into a hard bale, like a bale 
of hay, but weighing from four hundred and fifty to five 
hundred pounds; when this has been done, the man who 
owns the ground on which Uncle Billy raised the cotton, 
will go with him and see it sold, and see that what the 
old man owes the merchant is paid out of what the cot- 
ton sells for. 

For the land owner has stood security for Uncle Billy 
with the merchant, or rather he has himself become 
responsible to the merchant, and when Uncle Billy has run 
out of rations has given him an order on the merchant, 
and while the merchant charged the amount of the order 
up to the land owner, the land owner charged it up to 
Uncle Billy, the understanding all round being that the 
debt is to be paid out of the cotton when it is ready for 
market, 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


319 


Now this would be a very nice arrangement, both for 
Uncle Billy and the land owner, but for one thing, and 
that is, when the land owner arranges with the merchant 
for credit for himself and his renters, or for those whom he 
hires by the month, he gives his note at interest, usually 
8 per cent., payable when the cotton is gathered — about 
the first to the fifteenth of October. 

The merchant gives the land owner credit upon his 
books for the amount of the note taken; the note he 
uses as collateral to get money from the bank to buy 
goods with. The note being in the shape of a mort- 
gage, or what is called a mortgage note, covering the 
land and everything else owned by the giver of the note, 
even to the waving of all exemption and homestead laws 
of the state and United States! The note being given 
by a land holder, and being a mortgage note, is natur- 
ally about the best collateral a bank can have, and a 
very large portion of the business of the Southern 
banks, and nearly all of that of the planters, is done 
upon this mortgage note-system of credit. 

Uncle Billy has just got the last order from his land- 
lord that he will get until his cotton is ginned and sold, 
and the proceeds of this ordet are in his wagon in the 
shape of meal, bacon, and molasses. But this is pur- 
chased upon the strength of the note that the land owner 
has been paying interest upon ever since last Christmas, 
and he must take the interest out of Uncle Billy in one 
way or another. 

For notice, that while Uncle Billy has but just got the 
last of the goods for which his land owner gave a note 
before the cotton was planted, the note bore interest 
from date, and if the land owner does not get it out of 
Uncle Billy he loses it. And as Uncle Billy has three- 
fourths of the crop and the l^nd ownor but one fourth^ 


320 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


and as Uncle Billy has now eaten up his three-fourths, 
the 8 per cent, upon Uncle Billy’s larger portion is 
equivalent to 24 per cent, upon the land owner’s one- 
fourth; and if not collected of Uncle Billy goes far 
toward eating up what the land owner was to get for the 
use of the land. 

Yes, Uncle Billy has eaten up his crop in advance of 
gathering it, or will have done so if he cannot make 
what he has in his wagon last until the crop is gathered 
and ginned. 

In fact he will be fortunate if, when they come to set- 
tle after selling the cotton, he is found not to have over- 
drawn what the cotton brings, for if he has, then he is in 
debt — not to the merchant, for the merchant has not 
known him in the transaction, and has not trusted him, 
but in debt to his landlord, who in his turn is in debt to 
the merchant in the same amount. 

But such a condition of affairs, if it proves to be the 
case, will worry Uncle Billy a good deal less than it will 
the land owner, for while the land owner’s land and 
everything he has — mules, wagons, plows, everything — 
is security to the merchant, who will proceed to collect 
by law at his pleasure, the landlord must depend wholly 
upon Uncle Billy’s ability and willingness to make it 
good to him. 

And Uncle Billy’s ability and willingness are about 
equally large, which is the same as saying that they are 
about equally small. 

If he could not make a living such as the man whose 
land he has rented is willing to allow him, during the 
busy season when every member of the family from nine 
or ten years of age, up to the grandparents of seventy, 
can earn something hoeing cotton or picking it. If he 
cannot do this through the busy season^ but comes out 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


321 


in debt at the end of it' how is he to make a living and 
pay the debt during the comparatively idle season which 
follows the gathering of the crop. 

True, the landlord might take Uncle Billy’s steer, 
although it would break the old man’s heart (for a 
day at least), but if he does he must feed the steer 
through the idle season and rent him to Uncle Billy to 
put in and tend a crop with next year, taking a little 
larger portion of the crop than before. But if he does 
this. Uncle Billy will only overdraw his share a little 
more this year than he did the last, and as he has not 
another steer, the loss falls upon the land owner in the 
end anyway; and he might as well let the old man keep 
his steer and forgive him the smaller debt now, as to 
take the steer and forgive him the larger debt next year. 

If the landlord and Uncle Billy could ever get ahead 
enough to pay cash for what they live on there would be 
some chance for them to at least keep even, but when 
the war closed with Lee’s surrender, the confederate 
soldier — and every man in Dixie’s land was a confed- 
erate soldier — when the confederate soldier, in ragged 
uniform and broken shoes, or with no shoes at all, 
footed it home across the hills and over the mountains, 
he had nothing to begin life over again with but his 
land. 

Both armies had lived off of his country for months; both 
armies had conscripted his stock, both had helped to 
consume his provisions, and one — the victorious army — 
had freed his slaves and rendered his money of no value. 
Only the land and his faith in himself were left to him, 
and with these he began anew. 

Perhaps his wife had hidden out a mule ora steer and 
so kept it from being taken by the raiders from either 
side; possibly he found one that had given out upon the 


322 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


march and which some tender hearted soldier or team- 
ster had turned loose upon the way in disobedience of 
the general orders of the federal commanders to shoot 
all such and so prevent them from becoming of possible 
service to the enem3^ 

Possibly even, if a cavalryman, he had ridden one 
home from Appomattox, by permission of the federal 
general whose order to: “Leave the defeated confederates 
their horses as they would need them in making a crop ” 
has given a greater lustre to his name than all the bat- 
tles that were won under his leadership; a lustre that 
shines like a star even through the murkiness with 
which he surrounded his reputation when as chief 
magistrate of the nation whose armies he had led to vic- 
tory, he consented to, and approved of, laws devised for 
the purpose of robbing the many to enrich the few. 

Be this as it may, the returned confederate had the land 
and upon this began his life over again. Without money, 
without tools, without sufficient teams, with the neces- 
sity of giving emplo3''ment to his former slaves or of see- 
ing them die of starvation, yset with small means of mak- 
ing their labor profitable. Under such circumstances as 
these he had no choice but to mortgage land and every- 
thing, including the future crops, for food to sustain 
himself and his dependents until the crop should mature. 

And so the mortgage note-system of credit was devised, 
under which the planter pays interest upon his supplies 
for months before he gets them, and, worse still, pays 
from twenty-five to thirty per cent, more for them than 
he could buy them at for cash. 

For since he can trade with but the one merchant, the 
one who holds his note, it has become a custom that is 
well understood and expected by both parties, that there 
will be added to the price, of all goods sold under the 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


323 


credit system, a percentage never less than fifteen and 
as high as fifty, over and above the cost price for the 
same goods. 

Nor is this all. The notes given by the planter are 
made to fall due about the time the cotton will be ready 
to market, which compels the planter to sell at that time; 
and as nearly every planter has purchased his own and 
his renters’ or laborers’ supplies under this system, and 
must meet his notes when due, the principal portion of 
the cotton crop is per force put upon the market at 
about the same time, and is bought at such prices as the 
speculators in cotton choose to give, and these are such 
as enable only those who have been most fortunate in 
raising and securing their crops, or who are in posses- 
sion of the best land, to meet their obligations in full. 

Uncle Billy having a steer, and a landlord who has 
watched him closely, and only allowed him the actual 
necessities of life, may come out even. But there are a 
great many Uncle Billies who have no steers, and these 
will, in most instances, fall behind. This shortage 
comes upon the landlord, and together with what he is 
behind on his own family supplies, if any, will be added 
to the note given for next year’s supplies, and this will 
be continued until between the planter and his renters, 
and laborers, they will have consumed the value of the 
farm and the title deeds will pass int,o the hands of the 
merchant, and the planter will himself become a renter, 
or find a piece of cheap, wild land somewhere, and begin 
anew. 

But, beginning anew, he will never live in anything 
better than a rough board house; will never drive a top 
buggy, never have a piano or an organ in the house, nor 
send his children to school more than three months in 
the year. 


324 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


The mortgage note-system of credit was devised for 
the purpose of transferring the profits of the cotton crop 
from the pockets of the planter and laborer, into those 
of the usurer and speculator, who benefit about equally 
by the system. 

The few men in the South who are making more than 
a living, are those who, by some fortunate circumstances, 
have obtained sufficient capital to enable them to pay 
cash for the family supplies, both for themselves and 
their dependents. 

At the close of the war, the states formerly in rebel- 
lion were at once opened to the influx of the national 
currency, at that time consisting almost wholly of green- 
backs, and the volume being large, and cotton in demand, 
the ex-confederate received for his first crop, a price 
that went far toward setting him on his feet, and which, 
if continued, and backed by honest administration of 
proper reconstruction laws, would have made him, in a 
very few years, an ardent lover and enthusiastic sup- 
porter of the government, against which for four years, 
he had fought the fight of desperation. 

But the contraction of the currency by the general 
government, under a pretended necessity for a return to 
specie basis, and of strengthening the public credit, 
checked and finally killed the tide of prosperity rapidly 
beginning to flow in upon the South, chilled the budding 
hopes of its people, compelled them to mortgage their 
lands in advance for the year’s supplies, fastened upon 
them the mortgage note-system of credit, and in connec- 
tion with the corrupt carpet-bag state government, 
embittered anew and yet more deeply the hearts of the 
Southern people against those of the North, and so made 
possible the ‘‘solid South” as against the “solid 
North,” in maintaining which, the politicians upon both 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


325 


sides of the line have been so active, and for which they 
have been so well paid by the powers they serve, — the 
money power whose head is in London, and whose right 
hand is ‘‘Wall Street.” 

Had those who controlled the affairs of the general 
government at the close of the war, been even moder- 
ately honest, they would have seen and known that 
instead of contracting the currency it should rather 
have been increased, to meet the increased need of it, 
due to the return to the productive walks of life in the 
North of a million men, and to the conquered South, 
now for the first time in four years, open to the influx 
of the nation’s money, and so bound to absorb a large 
portion of that already afloat in the channels of trade 
and production at the North. 

That the leaders, of both th^ Republican and Dem- 
ocratic parties, did see and understand this need, that 
they did see and appreciate the dire effects which a con- 
traction would produce upon the entire country. North 
and South, is abundantly proven by the speeches made 
in Congress, and by the editorials and communications 
in the press of that day and period. 

And, that, knowing this, they deliberately and inten- 
tionally sold the prosperity and liberties of the people in 
order to win the approval and share in the spoils of as 
greedy, conscienceless, and merciless a set of conspira- 
tors as ever ravaged a countrj^ or despoiled a people, is 
equally proven and fast becoming apparent to the great 
masses of their victims. 


CHAPTER XXX. 


Uncle Billy Soliliquizes about the Farmers' Alliance . — The Planters 
and the Jute Bagging Trust. — The Alliance and its Mission in the 
South. 

Git er long dar now, yo’ ornery good-fer-nuffiin’ steer 
yo’ an^ take dis yer load er poles out ob dese woods an’ 
straight up to Mistah Johnsun’s house ef yo’ doan want 
me to jes’ eberlastingly war dis *hickety out ober yo’ 
back.” 

• Uncle Billy had consumed the provisions purchased 
with the last order which he was to receive from the land 
owner of whom he rented, and was now engaged in haul- 
ing wood as a means of getting something further to 
live on. 

For the jag of poles which he is now hauling he will 
get thirty-five cents, and as he has most probably been 
given the poles by some kindly disposed owner of wood- 
land, the thirty-five cents will be all his, and, expended 
for corn meal and molasses, will keep his family for at 
least a couple of days. 

If flush. Uncle Billy would undoubtedly prefer wheat 
flour to meal, for some portion of the time, but he has 
often eaten corn-pone with only water as a relish for 
days at a time, and is not at all disposed to complain if 
he can get corn-pone and molasses, although he is fond 
of side meat, devoted to fried chicken, and considers 

* Hickory, a goad or whip of hickory. 

326 


CO'NGRfeSSMAI^ SWaJ^SOM 


^^7 

Opossum and sweet potatoes a dish fit for the Gods — in 
which latter opinion Uncle Billy is not so far out of the 
way as those who have never eaten of the dish might 
im'agine. 

Like many other aged negroes, Uncle Billy is fond of 
hearing the so-und of his own voice, and is in the habit 
of talking both to himself and to his steer— -oxen he calls^ 
him — much as he would talk to his wife or one of 
the children. 

Perched upon the load of poles and bumping over 
winding woods’ road, used only occasionally and nevef 
worked, his position is neither one of very great ease 
nor of absolute safety; and it evokes frequent expressions 
and comments which are addressed in part to himself 
and in part to the steer. 

Look at him dar now! ” he exclaimed, as the wagon 
gave a jolt which nearly unseated him. Look at him; 
jes’ went an run de off wheel plum ober dat dar log. 
Like to have frode de ole man clar offen his seat. Ef 
yo’ do dat agin, sah, I war dis hickety out on yo’ shore. 
Yes, sah; I will dat. See ef I doan. Whoa dar, whar 
yo’ gwine; doan yo’ know enough to keep de plain 
endurin’ road? 

‘‘Spect yo’ done los’ yo’ senses. Whoa, I tole yo’. 
Reckon I have to git down and teach yo’ something!” 

And the old negro climbed down off of his perch and 

gee’d ” and haw’d ” and backed until he managed to 
get the steer and wagon again into the roadway. After 
which he climbed upon the wagon and took his seat upon 
top of the load of poles. 

Go on dar now, an’ see ef yo’ can keep de road arter 
it dun been p’inted out to yo’. Who-up! Dar yo’ go 
ergin, right plum ober dat rock. Why doan yo’ hab 
sense enough to go roun’ sich big rocks as dat one? Go 


328 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


on dar now, an’ see ef yo’ can’t do bettah nex’ time.’’ 

Out of the woods, and into the main road leading to 
town. Uncle Billy is all right and rides at comparative 
ease, sitting astride the load of poles, and has tried to 
let his thoughts wander to other matters than the man- 
agement of the steer, which now moves steadily forward 
at a speed of about two miles an hour, which is, how- 
ever, quite satisfactory to Uncle Billy, who is in no 
greater hurry than the steer. 

I wonder, now,” he soliliquized, I jes’ wonder 
what dem ’liancers gwine to do. Deed I does, fo’ shore. 

I done hear Mistah Camp an a lot ob odder men say da 
gwine bus’ de Baggin’ Trus’ and da gwine make better 
times fo’ de po’ folks; an den ergin I heard some odder 
men say dem ’liancers gwine play de debil an’ brek de 
country up. Mighty curis goins on dese times, dere am 
fo’ a fac’, an’ dis ole nigger ain’ sho’ he unnerstan’ em. 

‘‘Dars Gunnel Jo, now; he mighty smart man, and he 
say de town am on a bloom. And den dars Mistah 
Camp; he say de ’liance gwine bus’ de Trus’. An’ den dese 
odder fellers, drummers, da say da was, do I done see no 
drums, and da say de ’liance gwine ruin de country, an 
Uncle Billy he doan know what to say. Look at dat 
fool oxen, now; jes’ look at him, leabin’ de plain endurin’ 
road an runnin’ off a pickin’ grass dat a way. Reckon de 
ole man better git down an’ lead him back into de road. ” 

A half-hour later, while unloading his wood at Mr. ’ 
Johnson’s, a planter who had moved into town in order 
to give his children better school advantages, it occurred ’ 
to Uncle Billy to seek some information of that gentle- 
man, and he at once proceeds to do so. 

Mr. Johnson, what’s all dis I hear ’bout de ’liance; 
be da gwine to bus’ de country up? Case I heard some 
folks a talkin’ dat way.” 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


329 


“Who did you hear talking that wa}^, Uncle Billy? ” 
returned Mr. Johnson with an amused smile, but willing 
to hear what the old man had to say. 

‘ ‘ Oh I heard several folkses a talkin’ ob it de odder day. 
Some ob em say de’liancers da gwine bus’ de Trus’, and 
some say da gwine bus’ de country, an’ dis ole niggah he 
been wonderin’ whedder in dat case he gwine be busted 
too? ” 

“I don’t believe they can burst you much worse than 
you are now can they Uncle Billy?” 

“Da might take my steer,” said Uncle Billy doubtfully. 

“That is so,” replied Mr. Johnson, but the Alliance 
does not want to do anything of that kind Uncle Billy. 
The Alliance is an organization of the farmers through 
which they are striving to better their own condition and 
consequently the condition of their renters and laborers. 
Just now we are fighting the Jute Bagging Trust, that is, 
the men who make the jute bagging with which we 
cover our cotton in the bale. You bought some for 
covering your two bales you know, and had to pay five 
cents a pound more for it this year than you did last. 
Well that was because the men who make the bagging 
have formed what they call “A Trust.” They have all 
joined together and agreed not to sell any bagging except 
at the increased price. They know we must have some 
covering for our cotton and they think we cannot get 
anything but the jute and that they can compel us to 
pay whatever they are a mind to ask. Well the Alliance 
is fighting them. It has had manufactured a great many 
thousand yards of cotton bagging, and its members are 
using it in place of the jute just as fast as it can be 
made, and no jute is being used by them except where 
the cotton cannot be manufactured and sent them in 
time to enable them to use it and get their cotton on the 


330 


Congressman swansoN 


market in time to pay their notes to the merchants as 
they become due.” 

“An is dat de Trus’da isatryin’ to bus’?” asked the old 
negro. 

“Yes, that is what they are doing.” 

“An’ da isn’t gwine to bus’ de country den?” 

“No, the Alliance is not going to burst the country, 
Uncle Billy, but it may have to burst some other things 
besides the Bagging Trust. The people are finding out 
a good many things through the Alliance that they didn’t 
know before.” 

The latter half of this sentence was addressed less to 
Uncle Billy than to Mr. Johnson’s own consciousness, 
but Uncle Billy replied: 

“Well dis ole niggah is mighty glad to know da isn’t 
gwine to bus’ de country. He is fo’ sho’; fo’ if da was 
to do dat I doan know what ’ud become of me an’ de ole 
woman, I doan fer a fac’. G’long dar yo’ fool steer yo’. 
What yo’ tink yo’ doin’ I lack ter know. I ’dare I war 
dis hickerty clean out on yo’ ornery back if yo’ doan pay 
’tention to what I’se tellin’yo’.” 

And the old negro drove off in the direction of his 
cabin. 

As the outfit slowly climbed the hill there floated back 
upon the still evening air, the words, with which Uncle 
Billy, perched upon the front axle of the wagon kept 
himself and the steer company. 

“Look at him dar now, look at dat fool oxen. What 
he tink he gwine do now I wonner. I ’dare ef 3^0’ 
doan min’ better what I tol’ yo’ I gwine war dis 
hickerty — ” 

The steer and the wagon and the old man disappear 
over the brow of the hill and commence the descent of 


CONGRESSMAM SWANSOJSf 


331^ 

the other side, and what Uncle Billy was saying is lost 
to the reader and to history. 

The Bagging Trust had organized for the purpose of 
putting up the price of an article which was considered 
absolutely essential to the marketing of the cotton crop, 
and the gauntlet thus thrown down was taken up by the 
Farmers^ Alliance, and the fight was to the death. 

Both parties to the contest understood this perfectly, 
and each put forth the utmost endeavor to win the 
victory. 

Strange to say, the Alliance received little or no 
encouragement or sympathy from the country merchants 
with whom the planters had been in the habit of doing 
their trading, and who ought to have recognized the 
fact that their interests were with those upon whom they 
depended for their custom, and to have given them at 
least a moral support in their fight against one of the 
most dangerous and oppressive monopolies in the 
country. 

It is indeed most unfortunate for all the people that 
the systems of exchange of the world have been such as 
to cause those who assist the wealth producers in 
exchanging the various commodities which they pro- 
duce to imagine that their own interests are directly 
antagonistic to those of the men and women who pro- 
duce the wealth. 

That such is the case no one who is at all observant 
of such matters can have failed to perceive. 

This feeling of antagonistic interests, between the pro- 
ducers and those engaged in the work of exchanging, 
comes to the surface whenever the producers unite 
together in any effort to protect themselves and better 
their condition, and, in the contest of the planters of the 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


332 

Southern states against the Bagging Trust, was intensi- 
fied by the fact that the planters, in considering ways by 
which to escape from the mortgage note-credit system, 
had conceived the idea of purchasing their family sup- 
plies at first hands, or where this was not possible, then 
to establish stores of their own upon the cooperative 
plan. 

This of course brought them under condemnation 
of the merchants and was one of the causes that led 
them to feel less friendly to the Alliance than they other- 
wise might have done. 

But the planters were thoroughly aroused and, through 
the Alliance, made a most determined fight upon the 
Trust. They appointed men to act as business agents 
for their members in the different states and in many 
counties, and through them contracted for cotton bag- 
ging to take the place of the ju<e bagging formerly used, 
and, so far as possible, held their cotton until a supply 
of the new covering could be manufactured and sent 
them. 

Those composing the Trust were not less active. 

Possessed of almost unlimited capital, and unscrupu- 
lous in the use of means through which to accomplish 
their ends, the Trust put forth its utmost strength and 
the fight was hot and bitter and for a time victory seemed 
undecided with which of the contending forces she 
should plant her banner. 

In the contest, the Trust sought the assistance of the 
large cotton buyers of this country and of those who 
control the Cotton Exchange of Liverpool, England, the 
leading cotton market of the world, striving to induce 
them to refuse to purchase cotton covered with any- 
thing except jute. 

They succeeded with the Liverpool Exchange, but 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


333 


failed with the cotton buyers of this country, who feared 
that the planters would refuse to put their cotton upon 
the market at all, even to meet their maturing obliga- 
tions to the merchants, if farther attempts to impose 
upon them in the interest of a monopoly was persisted 
in, and their cotton, covered in such wrappings as they 
selected, principally in cotton bagging, but sometimes 
in a coarse cloth, woven out of pine straw (the needles 
or leaves of the pine tree), was accepted by the country 
buyers, who shipped it to the centers of trade where it 
was purchased by the large dealers and, when re-pressed, 
as it always is before its shipment to Liverpool, the cot- 
ton bagging or other cover with which the planter had 
covered it, was replaced by jute, and in this condition 
forwarded to and received by the Liverpool Cotton 
Exchange. 

The country cotton presses in general use throughout 
the cotton-raising states do not differ greatly from that 
of the hay presses in use at the North.' These 
presses are operated by the same power which runs the 
gin that separates the cotton seed from the lint, and 
may be either horse power or a steam engine, but as, 
with such appliances as can profitably be used in the 
country, the cotton cannot be reduced to the small space 
considered desirable for shipping long distances, it is 
re-pressed by the large buyers at the trade centers, as 
Atlanta and New Orleans, in presses of immense power, 
and thus reduced to the smallest possible compass before 
being started upon its long journey to Liverpool, via 
New York, and it was in this re-pressing in the large 
cotton markets of the South, that the cotton and pine 
straw bagging was replaced by the jute. 

• However, the spirit shown by the planters, who gath- 
ered into the Alliance by thousands and tens of thou- 


334 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


sands, was of so determined a character, and the use of 
cotton and pine straw instead of jute for covering the 
cotton bales so extensive, that the back of the Jute Trust 
was broken in a single season, and the price of jute bag- 
ging reduced to a more moderate figure, from which any 
unfair advance at any time in the future, will result, if 
indeed, it has not already resulted in forever excluding 
it ftom use as a covering for cotton. 

But the victory of the planters over the Jute Bagging 
Trust had done more than to relieve them of the impo- 
sition sought to be imposed by the one monopoly of jute 
bagging. It had taught them the much needed lesson 
that by uniting they were sufficiently powerful to over- 
throw all monopolies and bid defiance to every form of 
imposition. 

In their Alliance meetings they had talked of their 
wrongs until they began to have a pretty clear idea of 
their rights. 

Their victory over the Jute Trust had given them con- 
fidence in themselves and in each other, and one of the 
first fruits of this greater self-confidence showed itself in 
a disposition to take a more active part in political affairs 
and to insist upon nominating men from among them- 
selves for all offices, both state and local, instead, as 
heretofore, permitting it to be done by professional poli- 
ticians or by rings and cliques in the towns and cities. 

The result of this action on the part of the planters, 
acting through the Alliance, was to cause a split to 
occur, if not openly in all cases, at least covertly and in 
fact, between the Alliance men and their former political 
leaders, and gradually to open the eyes of the people to 
to the fact that they had been blindly following men who 
had betrayed them into the power of their worst ene- 
mies, the Corporations and Trusts, and this split was 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


335 


induced by the action of the opponents of the Alliance 
in the towns and cities, who refused, in many instances, 
to support men nominated by conventions in which the 
Alliance men predominated, although such nominees 
were of the same political party as themselves, and the 
convention which nominated them had been regularly 
called by the legally accredited authorities of the party. 

In some cases these men from the towns went so far 
as to organize in support of the opposition candidate, 
and, under the name of ‘^Jeffersonian Democrats,’^ to 
support the nominees of the Republican party for Con- 
gress, their object being to defeat the Democratic nom- 
inee simply because he was pledged by the Alliance to 
uphold the principles which the Alliance advocated. 

Such action on the part of their former leaders awoke 
the rank and file to the fact that these former leaders 
cared nothing for the party except as it enabled them to 
obtain office, or in some wa}^ gain an advantage for 
themselves, and so did much to weaken their party ties, 
and render possible a union of the wealth-producers of 
all sections within a new party, whose motto should be 
that of equal rights to all and special privileges to none. 

Meantime the Alliances of the various states had met 
at St. Louis, Missouri, at Omaha, Nebraska, and at 
Ocala, Florida, and put before the country a platform of 
principles, or more properly speaking, a demand for the 
passage of certain specific legislation; the enactment of 
certain specific statutes; through the action of which 
they believed justice would flow to all men equally, and 
the present unjust distribution of wealth would give 
place to a better and more equitable one. 

That the great body of voters South who made 
these demands expected them to be granted through the 
Democratic party there is tio reason whatever to doubt„ 


336 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


They had been told that the Democratic party was the 
friend of the common people, and they believed it; and 
did not doubt that when the leaders of that party were 
made acquainted with their demands, and the reasons 
for them, they would hasten to comply, and so relieve 
the people of the burdens which the)^ were fast coming 
to feel were intolerable and not to be longer borne. 

But immediately on their demands being made public, 
the Democratic leaders. North and South, East and 
West, denounced them in unmeasured terms as uncon- 
stitutional, as unstatesmen-like, as destructive of the 
business interests of the country — in a word, as emanat- 
ing from men who were either fools or crazy, and so 
unworthy of even a respectful consideration or answer. 

The further result of this action on the part of the 
Democratic leaders could not have been different from 
what it was. 

Almost in an instant the eyes of the voters were 
opened, and they saw how they had been deceived and 
misled in the past, and in that same hour the shackles 
of party fell from their limbs, and when the men of 
Kansas threw off the yoke of the Republican party and 
extended a hand in fraternal greeting to their brethren 
of the South, that hand was grasped with quick and 
ready sympathy and a new political party, pledged to 
the securing of equal and exact justice to all men, a 
party of the people, redolent of life and eager for action, 
stepped into the arena and offered battle to the plutoc- 
racy of the world. 


CHAPTER XXXI. 

Some Changed Conditions , and Some Conditions that May be Changed 
Later. 

A middle aged man, that is to say, a man rather over 
than under forty years of age, walked, with firm step and 
bearing, up one of the prettiest streets in Smithville, and, 
stopping before one of the prettiest cottages of that 
quarter of the town, opened the gate and entered the 
grounds. 

As he did so, a manly looking boy of -eight or ten 
years came down the walk to meet him, followed by a 
shaggy Newfoundland dog of rather sober mein and dig- 
nified appearance. A woman, with a matronly look for 
one so young as she evidently was, stood upon the porch 
in expectant waiting for her husband, and upon the 
steps in front of her played two children — two little girls 
younger than the boy who had run down the walk to meet 
his father. 

Vines climbed up the pillars of the veranda and twined 
themselves about the eaves and hung in pleasing fes- 
toons of flowers half way to the railing below. 

The yard was large and finely set in grass. Ever- 
greens and flowering shrubs scattered here and there 
added to the effect; and back of the cottage, and sepa- 
rated from the lawn by a low fence over which climbed 
morning-glories and cypress vines in graceful confusion, 

could be seen glimpses of a vegetable garden, 

337 


338 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


The cottage itself was neatly painted white, and had 
green blinds at all the windows, and though not very 
large, was yet commodious, and conveyed the idea of 
comfort and hospitality. The porches were wide, the 
windows large, and one, a bay window, was wreathed 
in vines; and in front of it a bed of roses bloomed, and 
loaded the air with their perfume. 

The man, and the boy, and the great Newfoundland 
dog went side by side up the broad walk to the cottage, 
upon whose porch waited the wife and mother. As they 
came, the boy was between the other two, one hand in 
that of his father and the other toying with the shaggy 
coat of the dog. When they reached the steps the lady 
came forward to meet them, and laying her hands upon 
the shoulders of her husband put up her lips for a kiss, 
while the little girls left their play and clung to his legs, 
demanding to be taken up and kissed also; a demand 
which was complied with instantly, accompanied with a 
hug and loving words for each. 

** Supper is ready, John, any time you are,” said the 
lady. 

“All right, Jennie, I’m ready now,” returned the 
husband. 

“ Come, father,” he added, turning toward the far end 
,pf the porch, where in a large easy chair sat a man whose 
.-attitude, not less than the crutches which lay against the 
^railing of the porch in front of him, bespoke a cripple, 
ibut who now rose and hobbled forward with a cheerful 
air. 

“ Everything going on all right at the factory I reckon, 
John,” he said pleasantly. ' 

“Could hardly ask it to be better,” replied the other. 

Orders coming in every day. I think we shall have to 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


339 


increase our force considerably, and that we had better 
do it at once.” 

No doubt; no doubt. We should keep a little ahead 
rather than behind our orders.” And Mr. Mason, for he 
it was, swung himself along the hall and into the pretty 
dining-room by the side of his son-in-law, John Nixon, 
and took the chair which his daughter Jennie drew"back 
for him with a loving daughter’s care. 

And this cottage is John Nixon’s cottage, and there is 
no mortgage of any kind against it. And John Nixon 
and his father-in-law, Mr. Mason, are owners and pro- 
prietors of a rapidly increasing manufacturing business, 
and are prosperous in a degree entirely satisfactory to 
them so far as the accumulation of wealth is concerned. 
Neither of them desire to become the possessor of 
millions. They ask only the fruits of their own talents, 
and their own toil expended in the production of wealth. 
They still desire and still work for the equal right of all 
men for the same reward for labor which they claim for 
themselves. 

I have made Jo Miller foreman of the shop, as you 
suggested,” said Nixon, addressing Mr. Mason when, 
the meal over, they returned to the porch to enjoy the 
cooler air without doors. 

<T am glad of it;” returned the other. <^You were 
working too hard before, and this will make it easier for 
you, and enable you to give more of your attention to 
the correspondence and other office work, and in the 
end pay better than to have continued overseeing every- 
thing yourself outside and inside both. Miller is a*good 
man in every way, and we were fortunate to get him.” 

^‘Yes, there is no doubt of that; and Miller was glad 
to come. He has always worked hard and been steady; 
but at wages such as even the best of mechanics have 


340 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


been getting of late years it was hard to lay up anything 
after supporting a family in even moderate comfort. 
But on the wages we can afford to pay him as foreman 
he can at least save enough to buy a nice little home 
before many years, and both he and Mrs. Miller feel 
greatly elated over the prospect.” 

‘‘I 'don’t wonder at it,” said Mrs. Nixon, breaking in 
on the conversation. remember how I did use to wish 
we could own our own home. I used to think that if we 
could buy even the little three-room cottage we rented 
when we were first married I would be perfectly con- 
tented and ask for nothing better so long as we lived; 
and I know other folks feel the same way.” 

‘‘The three-room cottage was a palace compared to 
the one we kept boarders in,” said Mr. Mason. 

“Yes, but what a nice crowd of boarders we did have. 
They were all awfully poor; out of work more than half 
their time, but they always seemed to be hopeful and 
good-natured, and they never complained at what we 
had to eat, though often the food was wretchedly poor 
an'd occasionally almost scanty. I remember how 
sometimes it seemed as if I could not possibly get up 
a meal that anybody could eat out of what I had to do 
with, and I could not do any better on what the men 
could afford to pay for board.” 

“Well, they are all getting enough to eat now, if no 
more,” said Nixon. “Everyone of them is at work for 
us except the ‘silent member,’ and he — you know — 
don’t need to work at all unless he wants to.” 

“Wasn’t it funny though,” laughed Mrs. Nixon, 
“about his marrying that rich young widow? Folks do 
make such queer matches sometimes.” 

“What was there queer about the marriage of the 
‘silent member?’ ” asked her husband smilingly. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


341 


^‘Oh, I don’t know; only he was so quiet and so odd, 
and she is such a talker; just runs on like a mill race — ” 

‘‘A babbling brook say,” interrupted her husband. 

‘‘Well, babbling brook then, and never giving her 
husband nor anybody else a chance to get a word in 
oftener than once an hour, and — ” 

“That’s as often as the ‘silent member’ wants to 
speak,” again interposed Nixon. “He never did say 
anything oftener than that except on very rare occa- 
sions. ” 

“Well, I am glad if he’s satisfied and comfortable, 
and I really think he is, for he is growing fat, and he 
certainly does loC)k as though he enjoyed life.” 

“Yes, and he evidently feels proud of his wife.” 

“And she is undoubtedly fond of him. I never go 
there that she isn’t running out in the kitchen every half 
hour to see how the cook is getting along with prepara- 
tions for dinner, or sending some of the children down 
town after ‘something you know your Pa is fond of.’ ” 

Everybody laughed at this and at the picture it called 
up in their minds of the “silent member” and his never- 
silent but kind-hearted wife. 

After a pause in the conversation, Nixon spoke. “I 
received a letter from Congressman Swanson to-day,” he 
said. 

“What did he write about,” asked Mr. Mason; “any- 
thing connected with the machines?” 

“No; he wanted my opinion upon the Ocala platform 
and ‘the sub-treasury bill,’ as it is called.” 

“Indeed! And have you answered it?” 

“No, but I shall. I owe him that much of a courtesy 
at least.” 

“You do not suppose he has any intention of sup- 


34 ^ 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


porting any such measures as those demanded by the 
Alliance at Ocala, do you?” 

“I am afraid not. In fact I do not in the least sup- 
pose he intends anything of the kind. Mr. Swanson, as 
we have the best of means for knowing, is a man of the 
kindest heart and of good impulses, and under different 
surroundings would have been a very able, and no 
doubt very earnest defender of the rights of the people; 
but surrounded as he is by men who have neither a 
knowledge of the needs of the people, nor the will to do 
them justice if they had the knowledge, and bound to 
them by those ties of good fellowship and good living 
which men of Swanson’s make find it hardest of all to 
break away from, he will always be willing to see the 
people prosperous, always wish them to be, but will 
never sacrifice himself for them because he can never be 
made to believe that the sacrifice would be of any par- 
ticular service to anybody.” 

“With his long experience in Congress, and the con- 
tinual legislation of that body upon financial matters, 
Swanson has never yet acquired a clear understanding 
of the financial question. This, not because he is incapa- 
ble of doing so, but because he feels that to do so would 
be useless. Knowing as he does and has always done, 
that neither of the old political parties will ever con- 
sent to a change in the financial policy of the government 
in the interest of the common people, he has preferred 
not to trouble either his brain or his conscience with the 
acquisition or possession of an understanding of the sub- 
ject, lest understanding it, he should be pained by a 
knowledge of what the people suffer and why, but with- 
out the power to relieve them. He imagines that it is 
the fate of the people to be as they are, and to know 
more of their sufferings and aspirations and yet be 


cokgressmak swansoN 


343 


tinabie to relieve them, would give him pain. And not 
wishing to endure pain, he refrains from putting himself 
in the way of pain.” 

‘‘But why does he ask for your opinion of the sub- 
treasury bill if he does not wish to understand the finan- 
cial question?” asked Mrs. Nixon. 

Her husband was silent' for a moment and then said: 
“My dear, Mr. Swanson is a politician. He knows that 
the sub-treasury bill is being discussed by the farmers 
and planters in their Alliances, and by the laboringmen 
from one end of the country to the other; and he wishes 
to know how strongly it is going to be defended and 
supported by the voters in his district, so that he may 
know how much or how little to say regarding it in his 
public utterances.” 

suppose you are right John, but I do hate to feel 
that Mr. Swanson is not all the laboring-people could 
wish him to be. He has always been so kind to us that 
I cannot help thinking of him as a friend.” 

“ He has certainly been a friend to us personally;” 
returned Nixon. “ It was through him we learned that 
in involving your father as a partner in his own failure, 
Mr. Hardiman had — unintentionally no doubt — restored 
your father to his legal right in the patent upon the 
machines Hardiman was manufacturing, and that on 
the settlement with the creditors this was overlooked or 
considered valueless, and thus still remained the prop- 
erty of your father. I do not forget either that it is upon 
this that your father and I have built up our present 
prosperous business. Nothing could have been kinder 
than Mr. Swanson’s action in the matter. He discov- 
ered the fact accidentally, while looking up some legal 
matters for some one else, and came at once to us with 
it; and never did, and never would accept a penny of 


344 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


compensation for all that he did. We all feel very kindly 
toward him and would gladly do him a favor if we could; 
but we must not let our feelings for him blind us to his 
faults as a legislator.” 

‘‘Of course not John, dear. I would not have you 
do a thing to return Mr. Swanson to Congress again if 
there is any chance for anyone who will do the people 
better service.” 

“ I shall hate to work against him; I always have dis- 
liked to work against him, but have done so every elec- 
tion since the first one, when he was nominated by us 
and then endorsed by his own party. It was my duty 
to do so, and I have done it; and next election I think 
we shall defeat him and elect one of our own men.” 

“Well, he don’t need the office any more anyway; 
that is, so far as money is concerned.” 

“ No, they say he married a quarter of a million, and 
that he got a nice girl for a wife in the bargain.” 

“ I’m glad of that. With a nice wife and plenty of 
money, he won’t need to feel bad if he is defeated.” 

“ Not if he has got as nice a wife as I have.” Nixon 
put his arm about the back of his wife’s chair. 

“I think, John,” said Mr. Mason, who had been 
silently smoking his pipe and taking no part in the con- 
versation for some minutes, — “I think John, that our 
people are going to nominate you for Swanson’s place 
next time. I know they are talking about it, and you 
are the most popular man among them, so far as I can 
hear. I think you can go to Congress in ninety-two, if 
you want to.” 

“I don’t know that I do,” said Nixon, thoughtfully. 
“ I know that there is some talk among a few of my 
friends of running me if I will accept, but I am not sure 
that I wish it. I have never had much of an itching for 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


345 


office. You and Jennie know that; and now that our 
business is prospering and we are comfortably fixed, I 
don’t feel any inclination whatever to break up our 
method of living. If I were to go to Congress, either I 
should have to leave you all here, and see you but sel- 
dom, or take^ Jennie and the children to Washington 
with me, which would be a breaking up of our home life 
that I doubt would be more satisfactory. No, I don’t 
think I want to go to Congress.” 

‘‘But I think I should like to see you elected,” said 
Mrs. Nixon. “You know, John, how proud I always 
am of you, and I should dearly love to see you honored 
as you deserve. The people owe it to you anyway, for 
you have done more than any other one man in this dis- 
trict, if not in the state, to help educate them. You are 
always ‘ educating and agitating,’ you know.” 

Nixon laughed. “Yes,” he said, “that’s true. I 
believe in agitation and education, and I guess I have 
done my share of it on these reform questions. But as 
to owing, the people owe nothing to anybody in the way 
of office. The duty of the voters is to the country, to 
society, and not to any individual, no matter who or 
what he may be, or what he has done. Their duty is to 
select for each office the one among them who is best 
qualified to serve the public in the position for which he 
is selected; and the fact that he has served them well in 
one capacity, gives him no claim whatever upon them 
for office or position of any kind.” 

“ But the fact that ohe has served the people well, is 
evidence that he is worthy to be honored and trusted.” 

“Certainly; and it is their duty to judge of the fitness 
of a man by the best evidence they can get. Their duty 
is to select the best man; but it is a duty they owe to 
themselves, to society, and not to the individual selected. 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


346 

What I am contending against is the idea so prevalent 
that a man can, by doing a service to the public, thereby 
obtain a claim against the people, or against the voters 
of the country, which they are bound to recognize and 
pay by electing him to office. Under this idea the claim 
to office once recognized is perpetuated so long as the 
recipient of the office refrains from doing any overt act 
which puts a quietus upon his claim. 

^‘It is upon this theory, that they can, by doing the 
public a service, create a claim to office that the voters 
are bound to recognize, that the politicians work, that 
schemers scheme, and that some of the most unscrupu- 
lous men in the country get into and retain office.” 

“ But if the people ask a man to serve them in office, 
isn’t it his duty to do so?” asked Mrs. Nixon. ' am 
sure I have often heard you say it was.” 

“You are trying to trap me into agreeing to accept a 
nomination to Congress if it is offered me,” laughed 
Nixon. I mistrust that you want to prove to a certain 
gentleman of our acquaintance, that in refusing to marry 
one Congressman you did not throw away your only 
chance to be a Congressman’s wife; is that it, sweet- 
heart ?” and he pinched his wife’s cheek and toyed with 
her hair. 

“Maybe so,” answered Mrs. Nixon, leaning her head 
on her husband’s shoulder, and looking up in his face. 
“Maybe so, John; I want the whole world to know 
what a grand and noble, and talented husband I have, 
and the world never will know if you don’t let it prove 
you in a position where it will see and hear you. I want 
you to go to Congress John, if the people ask you to, for 
there is no one anywhere who will be more true to their 
interests than you will be, or who knows their needs or 
understands the effects of legislation better than you do.” 


congressman SWANSON 


Nixon kissed his wife. 

‘‘Your faith in me is always perfect, Jennie,’’ he said. 
“As perfect as our love for each other. I ought, indeed, 
to be a true man, for I have a true woman for a wife.” 

“And will you accept if they ask you to go to Con- 
gress? ” 

“I’ll consider it if I am ever asked to; but it is a 
good while before another election, little wife. Many 
things may occur before then. There are others besides 
me who have worked eajrnestly, and ably, and faithfully 
to educate the people upon these questions; and the peo- 
ple may well prefer another to me as their spokesman in 
Congress.” 

“ I know they won’t,” said his wife. And here the 
subject dropped and was not again referred to during 
the evening. 

But if John Nixon is offered the nomination for Con- 
gress by the People’s party in ’92, the probabilities are 
that he will accept it. 

If he is any way slow about responding when the 
call upon him is made, Jennie will answer for him and 
it will be accepted with pleasure; and he will be elected, 
and Jennie will have married a Congressman after all. 


CHAPTER XXXII. 


In which Mr. Nixon Replies to Congressman Swanson's Letter Asking 
His Opinion of the Sub Treasury Btll. 

“To Hon. Horace Swanson, M. C., 

H. R. Washington, D. C. 

Dear Sir : — Your letter of recent date, in which 
you do me the honor of asking niy opinion of the meas- 
ures proposed in what is known as the Sub-Treasury Bill, 
was received in due time, and 1 take the opportunity of 
my hrst leisure hour in which to reply at such length as 
may be done in a communication of this kind. 

“You may, perhaps, recall to mind a conversation 
which we once held together some years ago, when you 
were first a candidate for Congress, in which we agreed 
that the sole legitimate use of money was to make 
exchanges of wealth. 

“As, however, the justice and wisdom of the demands 
of the people as expressed through the Ocala platform 
and the Sub Treasury Bill, hinge upon this point, 
of the natural and legitimate uses of money, you will par- 
don me for briefly referring to it here. 

“To start with, then, until wealth has been produced 
there can be no use for the tool with which exchanges of 
wealth are made; but when wealth has been produced, 
then those who have produced it have need of some 
medium, some tool, through or by use of which, they 
can exchange among themselves that which they have 
produced. 

“If it were possible to conceive of a community of 
people who had produced wealth in its thousand different 
forms, yet were entirely without money, we would 

348 


. CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


349 


clearly perceive what is the character and use of money, 
as also who had need of and a right to possess it. 

^‘Unable, from the total absence of money, to exchange 
one with another what they had produced, these peo- 
ple, being sufficiently intelligent to have produced wealth 
in many forms would naturally seek to devise some tool 
of exchange, something which should act as a medium 
by which they could each exchange that which he had 
produced for something produced by another, of which 
he had need; and this tool — this medium of exchange — 
when devised, of whatever character it should be, or of 
what material made, would constitute what we call 
money to them. 

“Now, who in that community would have use for that 
tool, that medium of exchange (money) when it should 
have been created? 

“Certainly not those who had produced no wealth, and 
so had none for exchange, but those who had produced, 
and therefore had wealth for exchange would have use 
for the tool of exchange. 

“Money to that people (as indeed it is to any other) 
would be as clearly the tool of exchange as a plow is the 
tool of agriculture, or a plane and a square of mechanics; 
and no one who had nothing, neitherlabor nor labor prod- 
ucts to exchange, could have more use for the tool of 
exchange, as such, than those who did not wish to till 
the soil or work in the arts would have for a plow, or a 
plane, or a square. 

“If this tool of exchange, this money,devised or selected 
by this community, be itself a commodity, the product 
of labor, as plows, planes, or a piece of metal beaten or 
pressed into a certain shape, then it is clear that only 
those who have produced wealth in this particular form will 
have money at the start; and only those can acquire 
it legitimately who produce something to exchange for 
it; and the fact that any possess it who have not produced 
will be proof positive that they have acquired it wrong- 
fully, unless, indeed, it is a gift to them from those who 
have produced it. 

“Again, if, instead of making money out of a com- 
modity,, or of accepting some particular commodity ag 


350 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


the tool of exchange, this community decides to use the 
credit of the community as a tool of exchange, or if its 
members agree, one with another, to accept as a medium 
of exchange certificates signed by one of their members 
selected for that purpose, stating that there has been 
deposited with him, as their representative, labor prod- 
ucts of a certain value expressed in the face of the cer- 
tificates. Here, also, only those who have created 
wealth can have added to the credit of the community, 
or have to deposit that upon which to receive a certifi- 
cate to be used as a tool of exchange. And those who 
have produced nothing either with hand or brain which 
their fellows regard as of value, and are willing to give 
something in exchange for, will be unable to exist in 
that community except upon the charity and sufferance of 
the wealth producers. Now I can see no reason why 
these wealth producers should make the tools of exchange 
and give them to the idle among their number, borrow- 
ing them again as they have need, and thus enable the 
idle not only to continue to live in idleness, but to so tax 
them for the use of this tool as to enable them to live in 
luxury, while they remain in poverty and in want. 

‘•No argument is needed toprovethat there is no com- 
modity of suitable character and in sufficient quantity 
from which to make the tools of exchange needed by this 
or any other civilized and progressive people. If it were 
not a point conceded by all, the existence of banks of 
issue, and ^he presence in the channels of trade of bills 
of exchange, drafts, checks, and similar evidences of 
credit, would be sufficient proof of the fact claimed. 

“The demands set forth in the Sub Treasury Bill (for 
they may properly be regarded as demands, since they 
have been substantially endorsed and will be insisted 
on by all the leading labor organizations of the country, 
including the Farmers^ Alliance, North and South) — the 
demands set forth in the Sub Treasury Bill are based, 
first, upon the fact, universally conceded, that there is 
no commodity suitable for the making of these tools of 
exchange; and, secondly, upon the further fact that only 
those who have wealth to exchange have any legitimate 
use for the tool of exchange, and that to put it into the 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


351 


hands of the idle is to give to them unlimited power of 
taxation over the industrious, and the demand is that 
the credit of the government, legally expressed, and in 
proper form, shall constitute the tools of exchange, and 
that these tools shall be loaned to whomsoever of the pro- 
ducers of wealth have need of them and can give 
proper security for their return at the time agreed upon; 
and it is further declared,, that land and non-perishable 
labor products are such security. To say that the pro- 
ducers of wealth have need for and a right to the tools 
of exchange, and then refuse to let them have these tools 
upon such security as they have to give, would be an 
insult and a cruel satire. The fact is, however, that 
labor products first and the land next, are the best secu- 
rity that exist, and are in fact, and in the last analysis, 
all the security there is in existence, and the credit of 
the government, loaned upon labor products as provided 
by the Sub Treasury Bill, becomes a certificate of the 
fact that the holder thereof has produced wealth of the 
value expressed on the face of the certificate (or bill, 
money), that this wealth has been deposited with the 
representative of the whole community, and in their 
name, and that the holder of the certificate (money) is 
therefore entitled to reimbursement by the community, 
or to the return of the thing deposited, on demand, and 
surrender of the certificate. Under this plan, both the 
individual and the community (government) are secured 
against loss; the tools of exchange are supplied directly 
and at cost, to those, and those only, who have pro- 
duced wealth, and therefore have need of the tool of 
exchange, and they are supplied in such quantities as 
their needs demand. 

•‘Whether the details of the bill, as at present framed, 
are the best, in all respects that can be devised, is a 
question upon which I am not now prepared to decide. 
It is one that requires and should receive the most care- 
ful consideration at the hands, not only of Congress, but 
of the people of the whole country. I have given to it 
such thought as I have been able during the few days 
that have elapsed since its introduction, and will say 
frankly, that I see no serious objections to an}^ of it^ 


352 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


provisions. The character and number of commodities, 
which should be accepted as security for the issue of 
certificates of credit (loan of money), may well consti- 
tute a question for discussion among the people, and by 
those whose votes are necessary to the enactment of the 
bill into a law. 

‘‘My own opinion, at present, is that it should be so 
extended as to include labor products in other forms 
than those of the farmers and planters. 

“The mechanic and artisan, equally with the producers 
of the food supply, has need of the medium of exchange, 
and 1 see no reason for excluding him from the direct 
benefits of the provisions of the bill. 

“The most carefully prepared safe-guards against the 
issuing of certificates of credit (the loaning of money), in 
excess of the value of the deposit made as security, or 
upon such commodities as are perishable, or are liable 
to sudden fluctuation in value, should of course be pro- 
vided. The danger to be apprehended from the latter 
cause — a sudden decline in price — will not, I think, be 
very great, as under a wise and equitable system of 
finance, such as is contemplated in the bill under con- 
sideration, the natural law of supply and demand will be 
left free to operate, and will do so in a way to prevent 
anything like over-production or under-consumption in 
any particular commodity, and especially so in those 
staple commodities upon which it is proposed that loans 
shall be made, and so will prevent sudden or great 
fluctuations in prices. The certainty of this proving to 
be so, will the more readily be perceived when it is 
remembered that under such a system of loans to the 
producers speculation in labor products will be almost 
wholly prevented, and corners upon such, an absolute 
impossibility. 

“In my judgment, there can be but two classes of logi- 
cal objectors to the principle involved in the bill. 

“The first class is composed of those who profit by the 
present iniquitous financial system to live in idleness off 
of the toil of others, and who may logically maintain 
that any change must be to their detriment. Secondly, 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


353 


are those who honestly question the fitness of the peo- 
ple for self-government. 

‘‘To the first class of objectors, neither I, nor the 
wealth-producers cf the country, of whom I am one, 
have any further answer to make. We have pleaded for 
justice as long as we intend to plead. We now assume 
control and are preparing to enact justice. 

“To the second class we have this reply to make: 

“We do not close our eyes to the fact that the enormous 
influx of ignorant foreigners to this country during the 
past few years is a source of danger to free institutions, 
especially so when coupled with the fact that those who 
have controlled the politics and legislation of the country 
since the war have done much to corrupt the people, 
confuse their sense of justice, and weaken their moral 
character; and these facts render necessary an extra 
measure of care in dealing with any matter of legislation. 
But those who have given shape to the demands of 
the people as expressed in the Sub Treasury Bill, and 
in the Ocala and St. Louis platforms, have faith still in 
the people and believe that with increased responsi- 
bility there will come an increase of thoughtful watchful- 
ness, intelligent effort to understand economic questions, 
and of wise and unselfish desire to act for the common 
good that will carry them safely past any errors of judg- 
ment that may be made manifest at the beginning, and 
lead them safely at the end into the harvest field of their 
desires. 

“It is upon such faith in the people alone that Repub- 
lics are founded and those who fear to place directly 
upon the shoulders of the people the control of whatever 
machinery is necessary to the running of government, 
really and at heart consider the people incapable of self- 
government. 

‘‘I imagine, however, that the majority of those who 
argue the danger of putting too great responsibility upon 
the people as by government ownership of railroads or 
the loaning of money direct to the people without the 
intervention of the banks, fear that the people will prove 
themselves too capable of self governro^Dt rather than 
the opposite. 

23 


354 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


<‘The immediate effect of the Ocala and St. Louis and 
Omaha platforms, and of the Sub Treasury Bill, if enacted 
into law, will be to place the tool of exchange directly 
into the hands of those who, having produced wealth, 
rightfully, have wealth for exchange. Only those who 
have produced wealth, can, -under the provisions of the 
bill, obtain any of the tools of exchange at first hand or 
directly from the government. 

<‘This is certainly as it should be, for to place it in the 
hands of the non-producers is not only to enable them 
to live in idleness off of the proceeds of the toil of others 
but is to give them unlimited power of taxation over 
every wealth producer in the whole land. 

‘^Such engines of taxation have been and are the 
National Banks, to whom instead of to the producers of 
wealth the government has been giving (it can hardly 
be called a loan) the certificates of credit (money) for 
the last two decades. Such indeed are all banks of 
issue, whether state or national in their character, and 
such the people will never again tolerate in this country. 

*‘With the tools of exchange in their own hands, and 
costing them little more than the expense of printing 
and signing, and with proper limitation of land-owner- 
ship (which latter is, however, a matter not considered 
by the Sub Treasury Bill), the wealth producers will con- 
trol their own productions, and those who refuse to pro- 
duce anything which others consider of any value, will, 
when what they now have is consumed, take their 
proper position in society — that of paupers without 
character or influence — while labor will at once appear to 
be what it is: the Creator of all wealth, the only legitimate 
road to the acquisition of riches, or honor, the safest and 
indeed the only conservator of the morals of the people. 

*‘The loaning of money upon interest will cease to be a 
business. 

^‘Since the people will thus supply themselves with the 
tools of exchange (money, certificates of production and 
of deposit with the government), no producer of wealth 
will borrow, or need to borrow at interest, of his neigh- 
bors; but since all producers will retain the full benefit 
of their labor, all such as are not spendthrifts will 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


355 


speedily accumulate a capital ol their own which will 
enable them to produce wealth much more rapidly and 
cheaply than under existing systems, and as this increase 
of material wealth in the hands of the masses will give 
them increased love for literature, the arts, and all that 
helps to refine their natures, those whose tastes run to 
the creation of literature and art will find highei and 
more general appreciation and surer compensation than 
is possible among a people whose every thought and 
every struggle is for bread. 

•‘Thus do I conceive that humanity will be lifted up 
and ennobled and purified by the enthronement of justice 
in the land; justice which is but leaving in the hands of 
the laborers the products of their own toil. 

‘ ‘This I believe to be the principles embodied in the Sub 
Treasury Bill and in the demands of the people expressed 
in their platform of principles adopted at Ocala. 

“And now before closing this already lengthy letter, 
allow me to say a few words in answer to some of the 
objections which I have heard raised against the bill. 

“Of its constitutionality I will say nothing. You are 
fully capable of estimating at their true worth the asser- 
tions emanating from certain quarters that the bill is 
unconstitutional, and I will only call your attention to 
the peculiarity, if that is the proper word, of a charge of 
unconstitutionality coming from men and organizations 
who, like the National Banks, have been the beneficiaries 
of enactments exactly similar in their nature to the one 
now proposed in the interest of the people instead of the 
banks. 

‘ ‘Of the expense and cumbersomeness of the proposed 
system a word also. 

“The estimated cost of the warehouses which would 
be needed to meet the demands of the people under the 
bill is fifty million dollars. 

“Suppose it were five hundred million instead — if the 
people need warehouses shall they not build them? 

“They have made donations of money and land to 
build railroads and have been told that it was a good 
investment although others and not themselves or the 
government owned the roads after they were built. 


35 ^ 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


They have issued certificates of credit (money) to the 
banks at one per cent, and have been told that it was the 
proper thing to do although they were compelled 
immediately to borrow them back at eight to fifteen per 
cent. 

‘‘As communities, as incorporated cities and towns, and 
as individuals, they have been urged to tax themselves 
to help build factories and shops, warehouses and street 
railways, and have been told that it paid them to do so, 
although not one brick, nor one clapboard, nor one cross - 
tie of all that was thus budded belonged to them when 
the structures were completed. How is it then that it 
would be such bad policy for the people to build some 
warehouses and own them? 

“With their own warehouses, in which they may deposit 
their products of a proper character, receiving upon 
them as security a safe proportion of their value in cer- 
tificates of deposit, or money, it will be at once and for- 
ever beyond the power of speculators to corner any of 
the products of the country, and being thus freed from 
the power of the greedy few, the producer will receive 
the price which the law of supply and demand fixes upon 
his products. 

“Instead of being an expensive system of exchange and 
storage, there is not a feature about the proposed sub- 
treasury plan that is not infinitely cheaper than that at 
present in vogue. The greatest difference is, however, 
that as things now are, a few men own and run the ware- 
houses, and themselves fix the compensation which they 
themselves receive; a few men only, and these the non- 
producers, are supplied by the government with the 
tools of exchange, while under the plan proposed by the 
bill in question the people themselves will own the ware- 
houses, and to them will be issued the certificates of 
credit, and they, and not the idle, and the speculator, 
and the usurer, will grow rich. 

“If I have made this letter too long, or have taxed your 
patience with my emanations, you have my excuse in 
my earnest desire to see justice done to the wealth pro- 
ducers of this country and of the world, and in my faith 
in the wisdom and justice of the demands made by the 


congressman SWANSON 


357 


people, and set forth in the platforms adopted by them 
at St. Louis, at Ocala, at Omaha, and finally at Cin- 
cinnati, and which embrace, and in a measure are em- 
braced in the Sub Treasury Bill. 

‘‘And now, my dear sir, you will, I think, believe me 
when I say that I am not unmindful of the many kind- 
nesses you have done to me and mine, and that should 
opportunity offer I shall be glad to return them in kind. 

‘ ' I feel assured that you will be pleased to know that 
our business is prospering, and that myself and family, 
which includes Mr. Mason, are well, and that both 
myself and Mrs. Nixon are pleased to believe in your 
continued domestic happiness, which we understand to 
be equal to our own — which is, I assure you, very great. 

“I am, my dear sir, yours truly and respectfully, 

“John Nixon.” 

Congressman Swanson lounged in his seat in the 
House of Representatives at Washington. 

One leg was thrown carelessly over a corner of the 
desk, and he twirled a pair of gold-bowed nose glasses 
in one hand as he listened with passive interest to a 
hprangue which one of the leaders of his party in the 
House was making. 

This speech, which was intended for home consump- 
tion rather than for effect upon members of Congress, 
was a mixture, in about equal proportions, of protective 
tariff and Southern outrages upon the negro, and was in 
reply to a speech made the day before by a member of 
the opposite party, in which federal bayonets, free trade, 
and threatened negro supremacy had been the stimulus 
to oratory. 

Both speeches were to be sent out to the voters of the 
country. North and South, at the expense of the people, 
and much was hoped from them of a renewal ot sec- 
tional hatred and partisan bitterness. Arrangements 
had been made with the House stenographer to insert 


35B 


CONGRESSMAN SWANSON 


“Laughter/’ and “Applause,” and “Tremendous 
Cheering,” at proper intervals, and if enough of these 
were not injected by that functionary, the members who 
delivered the speeches will insert them to-morrow or 
the next da}^, when the public printer sends them proof 
of their speeches for that purpose, before printing a 
hundred thousand of each, and delivering them properly 
wrapped and franked at the post-office for free passage 
through the mails. 

One of the boy pages passed dovm the aisle of the 
House with letters and papers for the different members 
laying them upon the desks as he passed. 

Congressman Swanson glanced at his leisurely, turn- 
ing each over in turn and glancing at the post-mark. 
Seeing one from Smithville he opened and read it with 
some show of interest in his look and attitude. 

When he had finished reading he folded it, replaced it 
in the envelope and put both into his pocket. 

“I wish I knew,” he was saying to himself, “just how 
near Nixon is right in his ideas of things.” 

He relapsed once more into his former careless atti- 
tude with one leg thrown over the corner of his desk, 
and again gave his attention to what his brother Con- 
gressman was saying. 


THE END. 




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DRIVEN FROM SEA TO SEA. 

By C. C. Post, author of “Congressman Swanson/’ 

I vol. 121110 , cloth, $ 1-25 

I vol. i 2 mo, paper, ..... 50 cents 

FIFTIE TH 7 HO US AND. 

The greatest anti-monopoly book. 


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If the book should be read by law-makers, it would do more to set 
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I have read “Driven from Sea to Sea," with an interest that never 
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Charles H. Sergel & Company, Publishers^ 

346-348-350 Dearborn Street. Chicago. 






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